The Viper's Daughters
by Sofisol612
Summary: A collection of one shots on different important moments in the lives of the Sand Snakes. They are in chronological order and happen in the same universe, so you can also read it as a whole story.
1. Obara, the Tears and the Spear

**Oberyn**

As Oberyn walked the dark and twisted streets of Oldtown, the city where he had lived for a whole year when he was younger and wanted to become a maester, he wondered for the hundredth time what he was doing. He had asked himself that question the moment he disembarked in the city, and after that, when he bribed the owners of all the brothels he had visited that year in order to get information about the whores he had lain with. He didn't want to leave any child of his to grow up without a father, abandoned. However, he didn't believe it to be his responsibility to look after all the kids every whore he had visited had whelped. They had received money for their services, after all, and the risk of getting pregnant was supposed to be assumed and accepted by every woman in that trade. Besides, if they didn't want to have children, they could very well drink moon tea to prevent it.

But though he knew that, Oberyn sighed and kept walking, following the road that went from the inn where he was staying to the house where lived the only one of the whores he had bedded who had birthed a child that might be his, considering the date of the birth. It was a girl, he had been told. Oberyn already had 2 daughters he loved very much, and he had no need of a third, but the thought of leaving a little girl to grow up in a place like that, without a father to protect her or teach her to defend herself, to become a whore and live a life without love or respect was unthinkable to him. So when he got to the door of the little house he knocked without hesitating and tried not to get anxious while he waited to come through.

The door opened shortly after, revealing a woman of about 30, dressed in an old simple white nightgown that covered her legs just to the knees, with her brown hair loose and slightly disheveled. Oberyn tried to find in that woman something of the lively and sassy girl that had kept him company in more than one night, but couldn't.

"Who are you?" She asked. "If you've come seeking my services, I tell you I only work at night, and seldom at home."

The woman seemed to be in a bad mood: she had evidently been sleeping until Oberyn came, and having to wake up to receive a stranger had annoyed her. There were yet a couple of hours before midday and Oberyn should have known that surely a whore that spent her nights working would normally sleep at that early time, and he should have waited some more time, but the damage was already done and he had to go on.

"I haven't come to seek your services, but I'd like you to grant me your company for a short time, if it gives you no trouble. My name is Oberyn Martell, and I have been your client some years ago. Do you remember me now?"

Her expression went from annoyance to surprise, and then to something that was very much like fear. She nodded slightly.

"Would you let me in?" He asked. She hesitated, trying to find a way to deny him that favor, but she couldn't think of anything to say, and ended up letting him in.

The door led to a little room that was both the kitchen and the dining-room. It had a wooden square table and 2 matching wooden chairs. She sat in one of them and motioned for him to sit in the other one, in front of her.

"Why have you decided to visit me?" She asked him.

"When I first met you, Morya, I was an irresponsible young man; half a boy, in fact. I didn't give much thought to my actions or their consequences, and I didn't think it was my duty to take care of anyone. But now I grew up, and I have decided I won't let any of my children grow up without a father. I have come to tell your daughter that she has one," Oberyn answered, sounding much more confident than he felt. He had already gone through that with Nymeria's mother, but she had seemed more pleased than annoyed when he had asked to take her little girl. Morya on the other hand seemed reluctant to hand him her daughter.

"I am a whore, Oberyn. I've been with hundreds of men in all my life. I don't know what makes you think you're the father of my daughter," she said, and her nervousness was almost tangible in her voice.

"There is no way to prove that I am her father, but there is also no way to say for certain that I am not. I am willing to be a father to her, if the girl wants me to. Let her choose whether she wants to be my daughter," he suggested. It wasn't an idea that had just occurred to him, but he had been planning from the beginning to let the child decide, as she was the reason why he was there. With Nymeria it had been the same, but her mother had agreed to let her go, and she had even helped her daughter make her choice.

"My daughter's got a mother, and that's more than enough for her. She doesn't need a stranger to come after 10 years of ignoring her very existence to claim her as his," Morya said, raising her voice. She was going to keep talking, but was unexpectedly interrupted.

"Mother, what's going on?" A girl asked, appearing suddenly in a corner of the room.

"It's nothing, Obara. Go back to your room. He's just a client that wants to talk to me," the mother intervened.

"Obara? You called her Obara?" Oberyn asked, amused. "If you called her that it's because you do believe I am her father."

"Her name has nothing to do! And it makes no matter if you're her father. She's alright with me!" Morya shouted, red-faced.

"Are you my father?" the girl asked shyly.

Oberyn wondered what he should tell the child. The truth was, he didn't really know if he was her father. Obara looked intently at him, waiting for his answer. But her mother wasn't so patient.

 **Obara**

She was playing silently with her doll. She didn't have much fun this way, but her mother was still asleep, so she couldn't make noises. The girl looked out through the window of her room and saw that it was a sunny morning. _In about an hour_ , she thought, _my mother will wake up and we'll have breakfast together. After that I'll go out to play with the other children that live in our street_.

That thought made her smile with excitement. She was one of the oldest in the group of children she usually played with and she was also quick and strong, and won in all the games more often than not. Most of them liked her and accepted her, though some of their mothers frowned at her and told them not to go near her. Obara was already aware that most women didn't like whores, or their children.

She was distracted with those thoughts when someone knocked the door. She didn't go out to open it because her mother always insisted in going herself, even if it meant that she had to get up from the bed when she was sleeping. Maybe she feared that some pervert client might want to take advantage of her, or that somebody may try to steal their money, thinking that she wasn't there. The City Watch watched the streets where the rich merchants resided perfectly, but of that backstreet where she lived they hardly knew its existence, so it was unsafe and prone to theft.

Obara kept playing, imagining that her doll was in fact a knight from the Kingsguard, and that he had to protect a princess and her little children from an enemy that wanted to kill them. Though the doll was clearly female, with a pink dress and braided woolen hair, Obara liked to imagine that it was a man, because knights seemed much more interesting and fun to her that ladies that thought of nothing but dresses. But she had just resumed her play when she heard a man's voice. She couldn't make out all the words, but she was positive that he had said "There is no way to prove that…" and "I am willing to be a father to her."

Moved by curiosity, she went to the kitchen. She tried to convince herself that they weren't talking about her, but one part of her couldn't help thinking that, and wishing for it. Obara had never had a father, and she hadn't allowed herself to wish having one, but what if she did have a father?

"My daughter's got a mother, and that's more than enough for her," her mother was saying furiously. "She doesn't need a stranger to come after 10 years of ignoring her very existence to claim her as his."

"Mother, what's going on?" Obara asked, a little scared.

"It's nothing, Obara. Go back to your room. He's just a client that wants to talk to me."

Obara knew immediately that her mother was worried, because it was only when she was afraid that she was so furious and authoritarian. She also knew that she was lying, because what the man had said before made it evident that he wasn't a client, and he was there for another thing.

"Obara? You called her Obara?" The man asked her mother, seemingly in disbelief. "If you called her that it's because you do believe I am her father."

Obara didn't understand why her name was important, or what it had to do with that dark eyed man with black lustrous hair who was arguing with her mother, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that now she was certain that they were talking about her, and that that man could be the father she never knew she had.

"Her name has nothing to do! And it makes no matter if you're her father. She's alright with me!" Her mother screamed, desperate.

"Are you my father?" She asked the stranger, looking into his eyes for the first time.

The stranger was silent, seemingly not knowing what to tell her. She waited for him to answer, but it was her mother the one who did.

"No! He isn't your father! Don't listen to him!" Her mother's voice was loud, but it was on the verge of breaking.

The stranger laid his spear on the floor, at her mother's feet, and without warning he slapped her. She fell to the floor on her knees and started to sob. Nonchalantly, he addressed Obara:

"My name is Oberyn Martell and I am a prince of Dorne. I have fought in many battles, and my favorite weapon is the spear. Your mother, on the other hand, prefers to fight her battles using her tears as a weapon." Oberyn paused, and Obara could hear her mother's sobs, as if to illustrate the point. "It may be that I am your father, or it may be that I am not. There is no way we can know for certain. However, as it is possible that you are my daughter, I am going to give you the chance to decide. Do you want to fight your battles with tears, or do you prefer to come with me and learn to use the spear?"

Obara looked first at her mother, who was looking back at her, beseechingly, still on her knees and with tears running down her cheeks, and then to Oberyn, who was on his feet, confident and not at all upset. After giving her mother a last sad and sorrowful look, Obara picked up the spear and stood up. Her father smiled proudly and said:

"I knew she was mine!"

 **Author Note:** I don't usually like to name unnamed canonical characters, but with Obara's mother I felt I had no choice, because it was just too awkward to write this chapter from Oberyn's POV and call her always "the woman", "the whore" or "Obara's mother." That's why I named her, and I hope you don't mind.


	2. Little Lady Nym

**Oberyn**

He had been away from Dorne for many moon's turns by the time they got back to Planky Town. He had sailed from that same city on Feathered Kiss, which was a merchant galley that didn't often carry passengers, but the captain had agreed to take him to Oldtown for not so high a price, if he didn't mind going to the Summer Isles first, the place where she was born and where she always returned, and staying there for a month while she visited relatives, sold the fruits she'd bought in Dorne and got some spices to sell in the Reach. He had accepted that condition, because he was in no hurry to reach his destination, and enjoyed his time exploring the Isles.

The captain's name was Kayala Tho. She was a young, comely and confident woman, devoid of the modesty that most Westerosi girls showed. Her dark complexion was beautiful, her skin was soft, and her dark and curly hair matched perfectly the young woman's daring personality. He couldn't say who had seduced who, but they made love long before they reached the Isles, and from that first night until Obara came aboard they didn't spend a single night apart.

When Oberyn brought her daughter, after a month of looking in the entire city for any child that might be his, Kayala was kind to the girl and received her with natural warmth. Oberyn knew that the young girl was aware of the fact that her mother spent each night with a different man, and he thought she would understand if he had a woman, but he tried to be discreet all the same and only went to the captain's cabin when his daughter was asleep, and he didn't do it every night anymore. He thought that once they got back to Dorne they would part forever, but a few days before they did, the woman announced that she was pregnant. She was more than 3 moons with child, she told him, and she meant to keep sailing during her pregnancy and even after, taking the newborn baby with her. They had a long argument on the matter, but he didn't yield. Oberyn's child would grow up in Dorne until he was older, because a ship was no place for a baby. Kayala would stay in the Water Gardens until she birthed the child, and he would live with his father until he grew up. She had only accepted that after Oberyn promised her he would allow her to come to visit their child whenever she wished, and that, in the future, he would be free to choose who to marry, where to live and what to do, regardless of his sex, as she had been.

So the 3 of them rode from Planky Town to the Water Gardens, Kayala alone on a mare while Oberyn and Obara shared a big horse that could carry them both with no trouble. He had wanted to ask for another horse for her, but the girl had confessed shyly that she'd never mounted one, so he changed his mind. He helped her up and then climbed himself, while she stayed as still as she could, fearing to fall. He held her firmly at the beginning, but he then loosened his hand gradually as she gained confidence. In the end, she could ride without him even touching her.

When they arrived, right after they took the horses to the stables, Oberyn went to the pools where the children played. Nymeria was there, playing with the Fowler twins and some other children of her age that Oberyn didn't know. Soon, he thought, Tyene will play here with them too, together with Arianne. However, they were yet a little too young for the pools and they were living in Sunspear, with Doran and Mellario. They had frowned at Oberyn's baby girl the day he'd brought her there, but when they saw how she got along with Arianne and how sweet she was they accepted her happily.

"Nym, come here to greet your father!" Oberyn called his daughter.

The little one ran out of the pool where she had been playing and went to him.

"Welcome home, father," the child greeted solemnly. Then she smiled and jumped into his arms, and he raised her and started to turn in his place with her in his arms laughing out loud. In the end he left Nym again on her feet, and kissed her forehead.

"Nym, there is someone I want you to meet," Oberyn said, a little more serious. "In fact, they are 2 people."

"Are they children that will stay in the Water Gardens?" Nymeria asked, cheerful.

"One of them is, but the other isn't," Oberyn answered, because, though Kayala was going to stay in the Gardens for some time, she wasn't a child. "Obara, come here, please," he called his eldest daughter.

The girl approached them shyly, and stood by his side, a little hidden behind him, staring at her feet. Nym looked at her curiously.

"Nym, this is Obara, your older sister. Obara," upon hearing her name the young girl raised her gaze timidly. "This is your younger sister, Nymeria."

"Welcome to the Water Gardens, Obara," the youngest one said with a smile. She always remembered her courtesies.

"Thank you, Nymeria," Obara replied in a low voice.

"The other person I'd like you to know, Nym, is Kayala," Oberyn turned to call her, but she was already behind him. "She is the captain of a ship called Feathered Kiss, and she will live in the Water Gardens with us for the rest of this year."

"Is she Obara's mother?" She asked innocently.

"No, she isn't, Nym." _But in some moon's turns she will be mother to your new brother (or sister)._

"Well, be welcome you too, Kayala," the girl said.

"Thank you very much for your warm greeting, lady Nym," she told her.

"I am no lady," Nymeria said, blushing "My surname is Sand."

"It may be so, but you behave with the same courtesy that is expected of a highborn lady, and you are much prettier than most of them. I think that 'lady Nym' suits you."

"Thank you very much, lady Kayala," she said. The captain opened her mouth to speak, maybe to make the same remark Nym had made about titles, but Oberyn spoke before her.

"Nym, I have to show Kayala her new room and show her around. In the meanwhile, could you take your sister to the pools and introduce her to your friends?"

"Of course, dad," she answered, thrilled. "Come, Obara, do you like to play in the water?"And Oberyn took Kayala to her new room.

 **Nymeria**

She was playing with her friends in the pool as they did every afternoon. With Jeyne and Jennelyn, her best friends, they joined to throw the other ones to the water, and to splash them until they had to rub their eyes in the many intense water battles they fought. They ran, jumped, dived into the water, splashed and came out again. The game was easy and difficult at the same time, because it had no rules except for the one that prohibited hurting anyone. Its lack of rules made it funnier than most of the other games Nymeria knew, but it also made it more complicated. The game never ended, until it was time to get ready for dinner, and it had no winners or losers.

Nym was 7 years old and she'd been living in the Water Gardens since she was 5. Before that she had lived in Volantis, with her mother and her family, but her father had come to take her, as nobody had imagined he would. Her parents weren't married, after all, and most men wouldn't want to raise a bastard, if they had a choice. But Nym's father was different, and he wanted to have his daughter with him. Her mother let her choose whether to stay with her in Volantis, where nobody paid her any mind, or to go with her father, who promised to look after her and treat her as her legitimate child and heiress, even though she wasn't. Her mother promised to write often if she chose to go with him and told her she wouldn't get angry or sad. After thinking about it for many days in which her father stayed as their guest, and after she got to know him a little, she decided to go with him.

She had only left the Water Gardens once since then: for her sister Tyene's fourth name day. Her father had taken Nymeria to Sunspear so that she could meet her little sister and her cousin Arianne. He had told her that in a few years they would move over to the Water Gardens, and that they would play with her in the pools. She had spent 2 weeks in Sunspear, sometimes playing with dolls with her sister and cousin, and sometimes playing by herself, when she grew bored of the little girls. She had cousins in Volantis with whom she had played before, but they were older than her, and they hardly ever noticed her. Playing with Arianne and Tyene was completely different: she felt more mature and important this way, but it also required her to be patient to teach them the games she knew.

Now however she was in the Water Gardens, and those who were playing with her were of her age, or near enough to make no matter. She was very absorbed in the game, but as soon as she heard her father's voice she stopped splashing.

"Nym, come here and greet your father!" He said.

She went out of the pool as fast as she could and ran to her father, but then she remembered that that behavior was unbecoming for a well-mannered young lady. So she stopped in front of him and with a calm and solemn voice she said: "Welcome home, father." He smiled.

Now that she had said what she must, she allowed herself to behave informally again and hugged her father with a smile, jumping into his arms. He picked her up, though she was all wet and her hair was dampening his clothes. Holding her he started to spin in his place, and she couldn't help but laugh uncontrollably until her father left her again on the floor and kissed her forehead.

"Nym, there is someone I want you to meet," her father said in a more serious, but equally calm tone. "In fact, they are 2 people."

"Are they children that will stay in the Water Gardens?" She asked, hopeful. She loved meeting new people and making friends, and it was always good news for her when a new kid arrived at the Gardens.

"One of them is, but the other isn't," her father said, after hesitating for some seconds. He turned to look at somebody that was behind him. "Obara, come here please."

A girl with brown straight hair that was much taller than Nymeria came near them slowly, and stood next to her father. The girl was dressed in breeches and an orange tunic. They were plainly boy's clothes, and that struck Nym as queer, until she remembered that she was naked. She tried to keep from laughing as she imagined what her mother would say should she find out that her daughter was going to be introduced to a stranger like that.

"Nym, this is Obara, your older sister. Obara, this is your younger sister: Nymeria," their father introduced them. They looked at each other, both shy and curiously.

"Welcome to the Water Gardens, Obara" Nym said, smiling kindly at her sister when she remembered the courtesies that ought to be said to greet a guest or a newcomer.

"Thank you, Nymeria" the other girl muttered.

"The other person I'd like you to know, Nym, is Kayala." While her father said this, a slender dark skinned woman with black curly hair came forward. "She is the captain of a ship called Feathered Kiss, and she will live in the Water Gardens with us for the rest of this year."

"Is she Obara's mother?" She asked, as it was the first thing that crossed her mind.

"No, she isn't, Nym," her father denied.

"Well, be welcome you too, Kayala" she said politely.

"Thank you very much for your warm greeting, lady Nym."

"I am no lady. My surname is Sand," she said, somewhat ashamed.

"It may be so, but you behave with the same courtesy that is expected of a highborn lady, and you are much prettier than most of them. I think that 'lady Nym' suits you," Kayala praised her.

"Thank you very much, lady Kayala," she accepted the compliment.

"Nym, I have to show Kayala her new room and show her around. In the meanwhile, could you take your sister to the pools and introduce her to your friends?" Her father asked her.

"Of course, Father," she accepted. "Come, Obara, do you like to play in the water?" She asked her as she started leading her to the pools.

"I don't know," the girl replied, starting to follow.

"How is it that you don't know?" Nymeria asked, wondering how someone could have no knowledge of her own tastes.

"It's 'cause I never did. I had no pools at home."

Nym stayed quiet for a moment, thinking. In Volantis, she hadn't had pools either: her family lived in the Black Wall, and the fountains in her family's mansion were just decorative, and not deep enough for her to swim in them, but she had been to the beach many times and played in the sea before she went to Dorne. Seemingly, Obara hadn't had that experience.

"Can you swim, Obara?" She asked her sister.

"I don't think so," she said, staring down to the grass.

"Don't worry: it will be fun. And I won't let them hurt you or anything. Don't be afraid."

"Thank you, Nym," she said with a faint smile.

"You are welcome, Obara," said Nymeria. They had already got to the pools. "Everyone, please, hang on a minute!" She said, raising her voice so that they would hear. "She is my older sister, Obara, and she will play with us. Please, be careful with her: it's her first time in the pools and she can't swim yet, so don't push her or plunge her to the bottom. These rules are serious, is it clear?" Nymeria's friends nodded and Nym told Obara to take off her clothes. She seemed a little insecure when she did it, and even more so when she entered in the pool, but she did it bravely.

During the rest of the afternoon, Nymeria, Jeyne and Jennelyn played a new game: teaching Obara how to swim. Though this game had rules and it was much harder than the previous one, it was also more amusing, and it seemed to make more sense. Nym learned then that rules weren't always bad, and that every once in a while they were necessary to make games safe and fair.

 **Author note:** I ask once more that you bear with my naming the mothers of the Sand Snakes. I promise that this is the last one: the other ones will remain unnamed.


	3. Obara Sand

**Obara**

The morning lessons had been called off because maester Calleotte was busy helping Kayala deliver her baby, so he couldn't teach the girls that day. That was good news for Obara, who had never liked lessons very much. She hardly knew the letters and it was painfully difficult for her to read a whole text, no matter how simple its words may be. So she was happy, playing with her sisters and their dolls, while they waited for their little brother's birth.

Playing with dolls had never been Obara's favorite activity: in Oldtown it had been her only entertainment during the hours in which her mother slept, but she had never liked it that much. In the Water Gardens she hadn't picked a doll until that moment, and when she did she found them even more boring than before. But her younger sisters liked them, and she wanted to play with them. Besides, Tyene had got to the Gardens only a couple of days before, so that she could see their little brother when he was born, and it was the first time in their lives that they were together. Obara knew that if she wanted to spend some time with her she had to play children's games, because there was no other way.

So the 3 sisters were together in Nym's room, each of them braiding a different doll's hair and dressing them up with pretty gowns as to go to a party or a feast. Of course, this sounded very silly for Obara, who hadn't been to any such event, but considering what she'd been told about them she didn't find them interesting in the least and didn't understand the necessity to dress up especially for the occasion. Her mother had told her once that men didn't care about what clothes women wore or what hairstyle they used, as long as there was a beautiful body under the dress. Obara knew her mother had extensive knowledge about men's preferences, as pleasing them was her job, and she believed her. But she decided to keep playing without complaining instead of sharing this information with her younger sisters.

"Ladies, your father is calling you. He wants you to go and meet your little sister," maester Calleotte announced when they had been playing for hours.

"Our little sister?" Nym asked. "Weren't we going to have a little brother?"

"There is no way to tell if a baby will be a boy or a girl until he or she is born, Nymeria. Most people use the male gender to speak about unborn children, even though they may turn out to be girls. Now that your sister has been born, we know she is a girl," he answered.

Obara, Nymeria and Tyene followed the maester to the room where their father was with Kayala and the newborn baby. The maester knocked, was given leave to come in and entered the room, followed by the girls. Tyene was the first one to get in, while Obara and Nym stood shyly by the threshold.

Kayala was lying down on the bed, with her legs covered by the light sheets. Oberyn sat on a chair next to her and the baby slept soundly in a small wooden cradle near them. Tyene came near it to peer curiously at her sister before addressing the captain.

"How is my sister called, Kayala?" The little girl asked in her sweet voice.

Obara remained in her place, not daring to go near. Her younger sisters were pretty, they could be cute and lovely whenever they wanted and everybody liked them. Nobody could say the same of Obara: she wasn't a beautiful girl, and she didn't have good manners or a natural charm to make up for it. She loved her sisters, but she couldn't help envying them a little for that, and for having their father since they were little.

"Her name is Sarella. Do you like it?" Kayala told Tyene, smiling.

"Yes, I do. She is very pretty," Tyene praised her.

Nymeria decided then to come near Sarella's cradle and take a tender look at the baby. "She is beautiful!" she exclaimed. "Will she be a Martell as our cousin Arianne? Or a Sand like me? Or is she a Flowers?" She asked then.

"She is a Sand like you," Father replied. "As long as I don't get married, I won't have any child with my surname. But it doesn't matter, because though you are not Martells you are still my daughters. You are all my little snakes."

Oberyn called his daughters "little snakes" ever since the day he had told them the story of why they called him the Red Viper. Nymeria had asked him then if they couldn't be snakes like him, as they were his children and wouldn't be able to be suns because they weren't Martells. Oberyn had accepted her idea, and adopted that nickname as a way to address them fondly since then, and as weird as the nickname sounded, they loved to be called that.

Obara knew that Oberyn loved her, and he'd always treated her like his daughter even though he didn't know for real if she was and in spite of her mother being a whore, but she still had her doubts. She had always thought that a baseborn girl as her had absolutely nothing in common to a girl of a noble family, and it amazed her to find that to her father she was equal to Nym. Of course, Obara had noticed that in the Water Gardens both noble and lowborn children played together, naked in the water and without distinctions. _Maybe it means that here all children are the same_ , she thought. _But when I grow up and become a woman, will I remain equal to my sisters for my father? Or will I be just a whore's daughter?_

"Am I, too?" Obara asked her father, after coming near him. "My surname isn't even Sand: I am a Flowers, because I was born in the Reach. Am I a little snake all the same, even if I'm not dornish?"

"Come here, Obara," her father motioned for her to sin on his lap and she did so. Looking tenderly into her eyes he told her "You decided to come to Dorne with me, so you are dornish, because you chose to be. For me you are a Sand, just like your sisters. If you want all of Dorne to know you as Obara Sand, that's how it will be. You will be my Sand Snake, like Nym, Tyene and Sarella. What do you think?" Her father embraced and she laid her face against his chest.

"Yes. I'd like to be a Sand Snake," she said in a low voice, but there was a smile in her face.

"Sand Snakes! I love how it sounds!" Nymeria exclaimed.

"Well, as the daughters of Red Viper of Dorne you needed a title fittingly important and fearsome," Oberyn replied.

"But if we are Sand Snakes, Arianne can't be one of us," Tyene complained.

"Arianne is already a princess of Dorne. She doesn't need to be a Sand Snake," Obara told her younger sister.

Then Sarella started to cry, and Kayala picked her up to nurse her. "Well girls, I think it's time to leave Kayala and Sarella so they can be alone for a while. You can come back to see your little sister later. In the meanwhile, don't you want to go and play in the pools?" Their father suggested.

"Yes! Let's go to the pools!" Nymeria and Tyene said together.

"The pools are for children," Obara complained. "I don't want to go." Obara was the oldest of all the children who were living in the Water Gardens and she was now too old for the pools. She didn't find it so amusing to splash at kids that weren't much older than Tyene while they jumped and ran around the pools, getting in and out. She could run faster than all of them and push them in whenever she wanted, and she felt out of place there. She was no longer one of them, if she had ever been, but an elder who had nothing to do there anymore. Besides, her breasts had just started to take shape and now she had hair between her legs, and it made her awkward when the little ones saw her.

"If you wish, Obara, you may come with me to play a different game. When I first met you, I promised you I would teach you how to use the spear, do you remember?" She nodded, hopeful. "I haven't yet fulfilled my promise, but I intend to. Would you like to start today?" Oberyn held out his hand to her.

The truth was that with the evenings she spent playing in the pools, the lessons, the introductions to her new family and the children in the Gardens and her riding lessons, Obara hadn't thought about the spear even once since she first got there. But now that Oberyn mentioned it, she realized that she wanted to learn how to use it, and she was very excited to do so, just as she had realized many moons before that, even though she had never thought about it, she had always wanted to have a father who loved her and taught her to be strong and independent.

Obara smiled, took her father's hand and they went together to the armory to get a spear for each of them and then to the yard, where Obara had her first fighting lesson. During the class she felt small, weak and unable to look after herself, but she wasn't out of place or awkward; she was just where she belonged. She was at home, with her family.

 **Author Note:** I know that the books don't say anything about Obara ever being called a Flowers, but as she wasn't only born in the Reach, but she also lived there for 10 years, I thought that, at least at the beginning, she might have used that last name.


	4. The Sand Snakes and the Princess

**Nymeria**

The three girls were sitting together at the small table in maester Calleote's chamber, where they had their lessons every morning. The maester had lived in Sunspear until Prince Doran sent him to the Water Gardens to help Oberyn's paramour with her pregnancy and delivery. Since then he had been living in the Gardens, where he watched over Sarella's health and development and tutored the girls. The highborn children who played with them in the pools, like Jeyne and Jennelyn Fowler, Nymeria's best friends, sometimes attended the lessons too. However, this time they were only Oberyn's daughters in the class.

"Ladies, today I shall give you a geography and history lesson," maester Caleotte announced at the beginning of the class. "Obara, I want you to make a list on the main geographical, historical and cultural qualities that set Dorne apart from the rest of the Seven Kingdoms. Nymeria, you draw a map of Essos and label each of the Free Cities with their names. Tyene, I want you to answer some questions about each of the Seven Kingdoms. Do you think you can do it?" They nodded. "When you are finished I'll correct your work and talk to you about the history of Dorne."

Nymeria was used to the maester making each of them do a different thing, and it was the normal thing for her. Nym was the only one who had lived in one of the Free Cities and she could find Volantis in a map before she even knew that Dorne existed. Tyene was the youngest one, so she had the easiest task. And Obara, in spite of being the oldest, wasn't better than Nym in her studies, and she didn't care one bit about lessons. The maester seemed resigned to accept that there was no way to turn her into a good student, and he was only concerned with making her learn the most important things about Dorne.

Nym was the first to finish, and she waited patiently while Tyene told the maester her answers orally, because she couldn't write well yet, and Obara stared furiously at her scroll trying to figure out what to write. Nymeria wanted to help her older sister, as she had when she got into the pools for the first time, but she knew that the master would get angry if she did. Each one had to do her own work, he said. Nymeria didn't agree, but she had already learned in Volantis that adults hardly ever cared if children disagreed with them, because they always had the last say in everything, so she said nothing and waited, doodling on a scroll to fight boredom.

The door opened suddenly and Nym looked up to see who dared interrupt the class (she didn't mind the interruption, but she had been taught that entering a room without knocking was rude.) The man who appeared behind the door, though, was her father, and when she saw him Nymeria immediately forgot the behavior rules they had taught her. She hadn't seen him in a fortnight, when he had left for Sunspear to visit his brother, Prince Doran, so his unexpected appearance made her very happy. Nym stood up quickly and went near her father to greet him.

"Welcome home, father!" She told him before giving him a hug.

"Thank you very much, Nym." Her father hugged her back, smiling.

"Hi father!" Exclaimed little Tyene, who had come to them and was pulling her father's tunic so that he would see her and hug her too.

Oberyn released Nym to pick Tyene and spin around with her in his arms before leaving her on the floor again and kissing her forehead, as he had done many times with Nym when she was a bit younger.

"Good morning, Father," said Obara, who was the last one to greet their father. Nymeria already knew that her older sister loved him as much as she and Tyene did, but she had never been one to show her feelings openly. As far as Nym knew, Obara had never said 'I love you, father', while Tyene and her had more times than they could count.

"Good morning, Obara," he answered her, giving her a hug. "Girls, I have brought a girl that will stay here in the Water Gardens for some years. Do you want to meet her?" He told them all after breaking the embrace with his eldest daughter.

"Yes!" Nymeria and Tyene exclaimed at the same time.

Nymeria expected the newcomer to be another sister, because the only time her father had personally introduced her to a girl newly arrived to the Gardens had been when Obara came. But the girl who appeared behind her father holding his hand and gazing shyly at Nym and her sisters wasn't another daughter of Oberyn. Though she was now a little taller and her hair was longer than Nymeria remembered, she immediately recognized the heiress to Sunspear.

"Daughters: this is your cousin, Princess Arianne. I expect that as the well-bred ladies you are you'll be kind to her and show her around the Water Gardens. Will you?"

"Yes father." Tyene was the first to answer. "I already know Arianne: we lived together in Sunspear."

"I know her too: I went to Sunspear once, and we played together," said Nymeria.

"That's true: I already know Tyene and Nym," Arianne spoke for the first time, but sounding as confident as if she had been talking to them for a long time. "But I don't know the other one. Who is she?" Arianne asked, pointing at Obara.

Nym thought her father would make the introductions, but he looked at Obara instead and told her "Princess Arianne wants to know your name. Why don't you answer her?"

Obara lowered her gaze a little shyly, but after hesitating for a moment she looked up and, in a firm and confident tone, said: "My name is Obara Sand, princess."

"Obara?" Arianne asked, astonished. "Has your father chosen that name?"

"No, my mother did," Obara replied.

"Your mother loved your father very much, didn't she?"

Obara went pale and lowered her gaze suddenly, and Nym looked away. She knew little about Obara's mother, but she suspected that there was something wrong with that woman and she had learned through experience that she should never ask about her. Her father had always refused to speak of Obara's mother, sometimes with evasions and sometimes telling her plainly that he didn't want to talk about it. Obara refused to mention her mother too, getting angry each time she asked her questions about her. In the end she had learned that there was something wrong with Obara's mother, and that it was better not to ask. Now that Arianne had made that question, nerves, curiosity and a feeling of embarrassment she couldn't understand took over her.

"All our mothers love our father," Tyene said, unaware of the fact that a forbidden topic had been mentioned, and that both Obara and Nymeria had been holding their breaths until she spoke. "But now he has a paramour called Kayala. She is the captain of a ship, but now she is living with us. She has a daughter who is our sister: Sarella. She is still a baby, but when she grows up she will play and have lessons with us."

"Prince Oberyn, would you mind to let me continue with the lessons of the young ladies?" Maester Caleotte, who had remained silent until that very moment, asked politely.

"Of course not, maester," he agreed. "I shall live Princess Arianne with you, so that she can study with my daughters. Good luck, Arianne! See you later, my Sand Snakes!"

"Goodbye Father!" Nym and her sisters answered, while Arianne said 'Goodbye, uncle Oberyn!'

The class went on uneventful after Arianne's arrival: the maester checked the girls' work, he made some corrections and told them some of the history of the Seven Kingdoms, making emphasis in Aegon's conquest, the fact that Dorne couldn't be conquered by the Targaryens and the way in which it had finally been included in the lands ruled by the Iron Throne. Nymeria already knew that story by heart, but she guessed the maester was telling it to make sure that Tyene and Arianne knew it too.

"Well girls, today's class is over," the master said finally. "Do any of you have a question to ask?"

"Yes, I do" said Arianne. "Why does uncle Oberyn call his daughters 'Sand Snakes'?"

 **Author Note:** Thank you for the review. I'll try to be more careful with my punctuation from now on.


	5. The Tourney of Harrenhal

**Oberyn**

He was sitting next to his sister, waiting for the last jousts to start. They had been waiting since the early morning, when the mystery knight had failed to turn up to face Prince Rhaegar. King Aerys II had sent his son after him, and many hours went by before the Crown Prince reappeared, empty-handed. The tourney must go on with or without Knight of the Laughing Tree, the king decided then, and another foeman was picked to face Rhaegar.

Ser Arthur Dayne was the chosen man, and he didn't make them wait when he was called. He was a strong man, a renowned knight and a member of the Kingsguard. Doubtlessly, he wasn't an easy rival, but it wasn't impossible for Rhaegar to defeat him: he had already done it once, in the tourney of Storm's End.

"Well, Elia, this might be the day you are crowned Queen of Love and Beauty," he told his sister.

"Yes, I think Rhaegar has great chances to win. But I don't believe I need that title: I will be queen of the Seven Kingdoms one day, after all," she answered, half kidding.

Then they got quiet because the knights were already mounted, and the joust started. Oberyn was surprised to notice that his daughters and nieces kept quiet too, because they had been playing and talking until a minute before, and because they had never showed much interest in jousts, but now Nym, Tyene, Arianne and Rhaenys were watching attentively, though the last one probably didn't understand what she was seeing (Rhaenys was just 3 namedays old.) After breaking seven lances Rhaegar managed to unhorse Ser Arthur, and the girls cheered happily the prince's triumph.

As soon as the following competitors were called, Arianne and Tyene stopped paying attention and went back to their lively talk. Rhaenys, who was already tired, sat on her mother's lap and tried to sleep, hiding her face between Elia's arms. Nym was the only one who kept paying attention. The knights that would joust now were Ser Barristan Selmy, from the Kingsguard, and Ser Oswell Whent, also from the Kingsguard. This tourney seemed to show perfectly that the knights of that organization were the best of the Seven Kingdoms.

"Who would you like to win, from the two of them?" Oberyn asked Elia.

"I think Ser Barristan will win. He has showed his skills more times than Ser Oswell, and he also seems to be very strong."

"That's true, but you haven't answered my question. I've asked you who you _want_ to win, not who you _think_ will win."

"I guess that Ser Oswell, then. Ser Barristan has already defeated Rhaegar once, and if he wins this joust, they will face each other again in the last tilt. I prefer him to fight Ser Oswell, because I believe he stands a better chance against him."

"So if you could choose your enemies, would you always choose the weakest one in order to win?" He provoked her.

"If I could choose, I wouldn't have enemies at all. And if for a reason I was forced to choose one, I would pick someone who had offended me somehow. I would never start a war if I knew I couldn't win it, but knowing that I can defeat someone doesn't seem to me a good reason to attack, either. I would choose my enemies according to the cause of the conflict, not my possibilities of winning. But tourneys aren't battles: there are not insults or enmities here, but only dozens of competitors, and just one winner. Nobody loses, but only one wins. That is why, here, the only thing that matters is winning," answered Elia stroking gently her daughter's hair.

"I guess you are right," accepted Oberyn. Elia was a smart woman, and she was usually right in everything, ever since they were children.

Ser Barristan won the joust after breaking 3 lances, and the crowd's cheers were heard all over the place, making Rhaenys groan, complaining because they didn't let her sleep.

"Rhaennys, don't sleep now, that dad is going to joust in the final tilt," Elia told her daughter sweetly. The girl sat up and put her head off her mothers' chest so that she could look at Rhaegar, who was getting ready to fight the Kingsguard.

"Arianne, Tyene, be quiet, please! Uncle Rhaegar will compete in the final!" Nym told her sister and her cousin, who obeyed instantly.

Tyene sat on Oberyn's lap, and Nymeria, who was sitting beside him, held his hand. His other hand found Elia's, and held it too. For as long as the joust lasted, they remained all together, expectant and still, as if the world had stopped.

The knights galloped to each other, their lances up, ready to attack. When they made contact, Ser Barristan's lance hit the prince's armor, moving him a little to one side, but without unhorsing him. Rhaegar, on the other hand, hit Ser Barristan's shoulder with enough strength to make him fall off his horse. Oberyn was soon surprised to find himself shouting with his family, and with the crowd, the name of the tourney's champion.

"Has Father won?" asked Rhaenys shyly.

"Yes, Rhaenys. Father has won the tourney," her mother answered with a smile.

"Does it mean you are Queen of Love and Beauty?" Tyene asked her.

"Not yet. Rhaegar has to come and crown me for me to be queen. For now, Lord Whent's daughter still holds that title."

Rhaegar started to ride around the yard while everyone cheered and applauded. Oberyn and Elia smiled while the little ones acclaimed the champion, happier than Oberyn had ever seen them. But then the prince rode past them, looking at Elia's face but without stopping. _What is he doing?_ He wondered, bewildered. _Does he mean to ride all the way around before crowning Elia?_ But the champion stopped before finishing the circle, in front of the members of House Stark.

Oberyn stared at his sister, his eyes asking for an explanation to her husband's actions, but she said nothing, and just looked fixedly to the yard, with an apparently nonchalant expression. However, regardless of how well she could keep her composure, Oberyn knew immediately that Elia was anxious and holding her breath.

"What is uncle Rhaegar doing?" asked Arianne innocently.

Neither Oberyn nor Elia knew how to answer their niece's question, and it was Rhaegar himself who did, laying the winter roses crown of the Queen of Love and Beauty on Lady Lyanna Stark's lap. For a second, Oberyn was only shocked, but shock was soon replaced by an intense anger as he understood the humiliation this man was putting his sister through.

"Oberyn," Elia called him with a whisper, "please, don't fight with Rhaegar over this. He does love me, truly. There must be some reason for what he is doing. He'll surely give me an explanation tonight."

"And you will accept it, just like that? This man has humiliated you before all the important lords of Westeros. Do you think he'll give an explanation to them too?" Oberyn didn't know what enraged him more: Rhaegar's deed or his sister's passive behavior. "I don't know what excuse he might make for what he did, but I am convinced that nothing can justify him."

"Rhaegar is my husband, and I know he loves me. I have lived with him for years, I bore his daughter and will soon have another child by him. He has always been kind to me, and until today he had never disrespected me. Besides, even if we didn't love each other, it is my duty as his wife to listen to him and forgive his faults," Elia said in a low voice so that the girls wouldn't hear, but she was firm nonetheless. "I am begging you, Oberyn, to let me settle this with Rhaegar. I don't think he wanted to insult me, but even if he did, it is not worth for you to intervene to defend me. A fight to the death between you and Rhaegar can only lead to war."

"I guess you are right," accepted Oberyn. "But I don't want you to deal with this on your own. If you don't want me to defend your honor, tell me at least some way in which I might help you," he asked, though he didn't believe she was going to accept.

"As you wish," Elia agreed, to his surprise. "Tonight I will have a rather long argument with my husband, and I would prefer my daughter not to hear it. May she spend the night with your girls?" his sister asked.

Elia's expression was serious, and so was her request. Oberyn sighed as he understood that it was the only thing he could do for her and, setting his annoyance aside, he nodded, agreeing to look after his niece and stay away of the conflict.

 **Tyene**

She was playing, with her sister and her cousins, a game Nym had just made up to lessen the boredom of waiting for hours for the jousts to begin. In the game, one of them had to think of something and the other ones had to guess what it was. The one who thought about the object had to answer one question from each of the other players, and those answers were all the clues given. The one who guessed right was who chose the next thing to guess.

Arianne was who had chosen the object Tyene was now trying to guess, because she had guessed what Tyene had thought before (the dress their aunt Elia was wearing). Arianne had told them that her object was small, because Rhaenys had asked about its size; that it was there with them, because Nym had made that question; and that it had no color. The last answer had caused an argument between Tyene and her cousin, until the latter admitted her object had a color, but that something was covering it, so she couldn't see it. When Tyene asked about the color of the thing that covered her object, she had said "skin color." Now all the answers were given, but Tyene couldn't think of anything that matched all those characteristics.

She was about to give up (they had arranged that when a player gave up, the one who had guessed the object had to whisper it in her ear, and the ones who kept trying to guess could ask her another question each) when she heard the herald announce her uncle, Prince Rhaegar, and Ser Arthur Dayne. The other girls stopped playing immediately and sat upright on their chairs looking attentively.

Then the competitors mounted quickly and charged one against the other. But none of them could unhorse the other one the first time. Each of them took another lance and they repeated the process, and again none of them fell. That happened several times and Tyene was starting to get bored when Rhaegar finally succeeded in unseating Ser Arthur.

Nymeria and her applauded loudly, and their cousin Arianne shouted with the crowd 'Rhaegar! Rhaegar!' Little Rhaenys saw that her cousins were clapping their hands and she did the same, but Tyene wasn't so sure she knew they were cheering her father. When the clamor died down the knights left and the following jousters were announced.

"Have you guessed my object, Tyene?" Her cousin asked.

"No, I haven't. I give up: I can't think of anything."

Arianne giggled mischievously, got near Tyene and whispered the answer in her ear. At first Tyene thought she had misheard her, and she asked her cousin to repeat it, yat when she did she heard the same, so she guessed she had heard it right the first time. But she disliked that answer, because it seemed tricky to her.

"You cheated! A baby isn't a thing!" She complained.

"So what? It doesn't have to be a thing for me to choose it. If it exists, it's enough," Arianne replied.

"Then he doesn't exist, because he wasn't born yet." Tyene was beginning to get angry with her cousin.

"That doesn't matter, either. That he wasn't born doesn't mean he doesn't exist. I touched aunt Elia's tummy and I felt him kick, so I know he exists," Arianne argued.

Tyene was about to answer back when they were interrupted by Nymeria, who asked them to shut up because uncle Rhaegar was going to tilt again, this time in the final. The cousins got quiet, leaving the argument forgotten, and Tyene sat on her father's lap.

This time, Prince Rhaegar needed to break only one lance to defeat his opponent. When it happened, Tyene cheered as loudly as she could with her sister and cousins, and she heard her father screaming Rhaegar's name too. The girls did the same, and they all were soon acclaiming the champion, together.

"Has Father won?" Rhaenys wanted to know.

"Yes, Rhaenys. Father has won the tourney," Elia answered, smiling.

"Does it mean you are Queen of Love and Beauty?" Tyene asked her, innocently.

"Not yet. Rhaegar has to come and crown me for me to be queen. For now, Lord Whent's daughter still holds that title."

Her uncle began to trot all around the yard, as everyone applauded him. Tyene, her sister and her cousins kept celebrating his victory with shrieks and claps while he drew near them. But when he got where they were he didn't stop, but he rode past them instead. Tyene had seen Rhaegar look fixedly at Elia and Rhaenys as he rode, so she was certain he had seen them. _But then, why hasn't he stopped?_ The girl wondered. However, she didn't dare voice her question: it was the first time Tyene saw a tourney, and she didn't know very well everything that happened in them, so she decided to wait quietly to see what her uncle did instead of risking the embarrassment of asking a silly question.

Eventually, Prince Rhaegar stopped before the Stark family, who were rather far from them. Tyene didn't know much of the Starks Stark, except that they were from the North (a frozen place that was as far from Dorne as was possible without leaving the Seven Kingdoms), that they had a very big castle called Winterfell, and that the members of that family who were present there were called Brandon, Eddard, Benjen and Lyanna.

"What is uncle Rhaegar doing?" Arianne made the question she didn't dare formulate.

But neither Oberyn nor Elia answered, and they all remained silent watching as Rhaegar crowned Lyanna Stark, giving her the title of Queen of Love and Beauty. Tyene glanced at her aunt Elia, and was surprised to find that she wasn't crying. Her uncle was supposed to love and crown her, because she was his wife. What her uncle had done was horrible, and even her, who was only six namedays old and had never been to a tourney before, knew it.

Tyene saw that her father was talking to Elia, but instead of being comforting her he looked angry. However, she didn't try very hard to understand what the adults were saying, as her mind was busy thinking of Rhaenys, the little cousin Tyene had met just about a fortnight before. _Does she understand what has just happened? Will she get angry at her father for this? Will she feel sad for her mother?_ She wondered, worried. She also wondered if she herself, and the rest of her father's daughters, weren't in a better situation than her cousin: they were bastards and their parents weren't together but that also meant that they never saw them fight. Besides, Oberyn got on well with Tyene's mother, and with Sarella's too.

"Girls, come with me, that we must get ready for dinner," their father said, interrupting Tyene's thoughts. "Rhaenys, come with us, too. Would you like to sleep with your cousins tonight?"

"Yes!" The girl answered cheerfully. Seemingly, she hadn't realized what had just happened. Tyene thought it was probably better that way.

The girls got dressed and had dinner in silence, and when they went to bed that night, instead of chatting for a long time as they did every time they had the chance to sleep together, they simply lay down and closed their eyes, wishing for sleep to delate the end of the tourney from their memories as soon as possible.

 **Author Note:** I would like to explain that, even though in canon it is never mentioned that either Nymeria, Tyene or Arianne were present at the tourney, I wanted some of the Sand Snakes to meet Elia and Rhaenys sometime, and that is the main reason why I wrote this chapter.

Well, that's all for now. I hope you've enjoyed it so far!


	6. Talk of War

**Nymeria**

When she had unbraided her elaborate and neat braid she looked in the mirror. Her hair, usually straight, was now full of defined locks caused by the hairstyle she had had all day. She enjoyed braiding her hair very much of late, because it gave her an elegant and sophisticated touch, it was easy to do with her long and straight hair, and it was a good way to keep it off her face to be more comfortable when she played. Her friends had praised her hairstyle many times, and they had even tried to imitate her, without much success.

Nymeria glanced at her bedroom's door. She was already in her nightgown and with her hair loose, ready to go to bed. The only reason why she was still awake, sitting on her bed, was that her father hadn't yet come to kiss her goodnight. Nym was already nine namedays old and she knew she could sleep all the same if her father didn't wish her "good night", but she still liked to receive that token of tenderness and affection from her father before she went to bed, so she decided to wait. She took a piece of fabric and a needle with a thread from her bedside table and started practicing her needlework, to keep awake until her father came.

She did that for a good while, until her eyes started to itch of tiredness. She wanted to sleep but her father hadn't come. _Has he forgotten to put me to bed?_ Nymeria wondered. It was the first time her father didn't come to say good night, save those times he had been away. Guessing that there surely was some reason that justified his absence, Nym resolved to go look for him and find out what had made him forget her.

The first place where she thought to look for him was his room, but when she knocked there was no answer, and when she opened the door she found the room empty. Then she went to the dining room, wondering whether he had gone to eat late. She didn't remember seeing him at dinner that night, but that was normal as her father hardly ever ate with his daughters, because they usually shared a table with other children. But the dining room was also deserted, and Nym was starting to worry. So she decided to seek someone else to ask them for her father, thinking that it would be easier. But at that time all the children would be either sleeping or trying to sleep. Besides, they wouldn't probably know where Oberyn was any more than she did.

In the end she came up with the idea of going to maester Caleotte, because she knew where to find him and because he was a man grown, which meant he would probably be awake and had more chances to know of her father's whereabouts than any of the children. Proud of her resolution, she went to the maester's chambers.

When she got there she saw that the door was closed. She was about to knock when she heard her uncle's worried voice as he consulted the maester on something that sounded like a serious matter. Respectful of the manners she had been taught she preferred not to interrupt and to stay silent until her uncle Doran, finished saying what he was saying. But as soon as he was done speaking, her father, who was also present, asked:

"But, are you sure Rhaegar kidnapped her?"

Nym hadn't paid attention to what her uncle had said because she knew it wasn't her business, but her father's question made her curious.

"We can't be sure of anything, Oberyn. The only thing we know is that Rhaegar is missing, that so is Lady Lyanna, and that they are said to be together. Elia also claims they are in Dorne, in an abandoned stronghold called the Tower of Joy," Doran answered him.

"So the scoundrel not only dares cheat on her, but he also does it in our own lands?" Her father exclaimed, evidently offended. "Please, Doran, don't tell me you will put up with our sister being insulted in such a way!"

"Oberyn! That's not the point." Nymeria was astonished, because it sounded like her uncle Doran was scolding her father as if he was a child. "What matters is that the King had Rickard and Brandon Stark executed for demanding to be given the girl back and for threatening to kill Rhaegar. Aerys also commanded Jon Arryn to send him the heads of his wards, said Elia. Soon there will be a rebellion; an important war. _That_ is the point, Oberyn." Turning to look at the maester, Doran asked, "Do you think I should act now?"

But Nym didn't stay to hear Caleotte's answer. She had already found her father, but she decided not to ask him to go and put her to bed. He would surely do it if she asked him to, but if Nymeria had understood anything of what she'd heard, it was that her father had more pressing matters at that moment, and that there was going to be a war soon. This meant that the best thing she could do was leave without disturbing him.

She turned around and went back to her room, but she didn't find it empty, as she had expected. Her sister Tyene was kneeling on the floor with her face hidden on the bed, crying.

"Tyene, what's the matter?" She asked, approaching her.

"Dad has forgotten me... He didn't come to kiss me goodnight," the little girl sobbed. "So I went out to look for him... but he wasn't anywhere... In the end I tried to find you... to ask you if you had seen him... but you weren't here."

"He hasn't forgotten you. He didn't come to put me to bed either, but it isn't because he forgot to. What happens is that he has other important things to do right now," answered Nymeria sincerely, trying to settle her down.

"Does he? And what is more important to Father than us?" asked Tyene in an offended tone. Nym could notice, however, that she had stopped sobbing.

For some instants, she didn't know what to answer. She didn't wholly understand what was being discussed in the maester's chambers herself, and couldn't think of any way to tell Tyene what little she knew about it. Besides, she didn't want to frighten her little sister by telling her that there was going to be a war, just before going to bed. The only solution she could think of was to make up a lie inspired in what she had heard the grownups saying.

"Father is talking with uncle Doran and maester Caleotte. They are talking about aunt Elia and uncle Rhaegar. It seems they want to visit Dorne soon, so father and uncle Doran want to make a feast when they come. But they don't know yet if they will be able to come because aunt Elia has just had a baby, so nobody can know yet. Will you keep the secret?"

Tyene nodded and smiled, seemingly happy to be trusted with such classified information, and Nym smiled too, proud of the result of her improvised plan. But she was a bit sorry for Tyene: she was a little girl, and the fact that their father hadn't come to kiss her goodnight had really upset her. Besides, she felt a little guilty for lying to her. So she decided to do what she thought a good older sister should in a moment like that.

"Tyene, I've just talked with Father, right before I came back to my room," she told her little sister, motioning for her to get up from the floor and sit with her on the bed. She obeyed. "He told me he won't be able to put us to bed yet, and that he wants us to go to sleep on our own for now. But he said that as soon as he finishes talking with uncle Doran and the maester he will come and kiss us goodnight as always." Nymeria noticed that her sister smiled, happy and relieved, when she said that. "Would you like to bring your mattress to my room so that we can wait for him together?"

"Yes, Nym! Wait a minute, I'll be right back." The little girl went quickly to her room, and came back in less than a minute with her mattress.

The two sisters spent that night together and Tyene was soon asleep. But Nymeria, on the other hand, tossed and turned in bed all night while she tried to guess who Lyanna was, what she had to do with her uncle Rhaegar and aunt Elia and why there was going to be a war. She didn't stop wondering about that until the door of her room opened and she sat up, startled.

The intruder was her father, who had come to kiss his daughters even though they were supposed to be asleep. Oberyn frowned when he saw that Nymeria was still awake, but he didn't say anything in order not to wake Tyene. He kissed lightly the younger girl's forehead and then he approached Nym. When her father's lips touched her cheek, she knew that nothing had changed. It was the same warm and soft kiss as always, with the same carefree fondness and with no hint of anxiety in his movements. And she knew then she had no reason to worry.

It may be that a bad thing was happening with her aunt and uncle, but it didn't affect her father, and it probably shouldn't affect her either. And if it was something Nym really had to know, Oberyn would surely explain her on the morrow. Nymeria closed her eyes and got to sleep soon after her father left the room, and she didn't think again of the conversation she had overhead that night until after the war had ended.


	7. Blood and Destiny

**Obara**

She woke up as in every other morning, when the sun came in through the window and lit her room. She never covered it with curtains because she liked getting up early with the sunlight, instead of wasting half a day sleeping. But when she sat up on the bed she saw something she didn't expect to find, and she gasped, suddenly worried.

It was a big dark stain on her nightgown and the sheets that covered the mattress. She usually didn't care about those things, but this was a bloodstain, and that was what had startled her. She wondered if it meant she was sick, or if someone had attacked her while she slept. But she soon dismissed that idea, because the only people who were living in the Water Gardens in that moment were maester Caleotte, the servants and the children who played in the pools, and she was certain that none of them would hurt her on purpose. Besides, she would surely have woken up if somebody had hurt her, Obara guessed.

As quickly as she could and trying to hide the stain that seemed to her so big and evident, she went out of her room to look for the maester. She knocked loudly and insistently, praying for him to be there to see her.

"I'm coming!" The master said, moody because of Obara's insistence and for the time of her visit. "What is going on, Obara?" He asked her after opening the door.

"I think I'm sick. Today I woke up and my nightgown was all bloody. My sheets were also stained and I don't know why. I don't think I've hurt myself in my sleep."

"Let me see, child… Where did the blood come from?" He asked.

She was slightly uncomfortable by the question, but she knew the maester wouldn't have asked it if it was not relevant, so she pointed to the place between her legs. He smiled at her kindly. "You are not sick, Obara. You are just growing," he said. "That stain is your moon blood. Have you ever heard of it?"

Obara nodded slightly. Her mother had talked to her about that. She had told her that it was what determined when a girl turned into a woman and that once it happened to Obara she would be ready to start her training in her mothers' trade, though she would have to wait another year after that to start working. Obara wondered then what her moon blood meant now. What was she going to be when she grew up?

"I would advise you to put some cotton in your smallclothes, to prevent them from getting stained. It should stop bleeding in a few days, but if it doesn't by next week come to see me."

"Thank you, maester Caleotte," she said.

"You are welcome, Obara" he replied, and she went out. After getting dressed, heeding Caleotte's indications, and giving her nightgown to a handmaid to wash it, she broke her fast with her family. Her father had marched off to war some moon turns ago, so they were only Nymeria, Tyene and Sarella in the table with her. She waved at them, sat at the table and asked a cheese toast and orange juice. After that she remained silent and thoughtful while the other ones talked lively.

"Has something happened to you, Obara?" Nym asked her suddenly. Though they were very different from each other, she had always been the sister that understood her best, and she was the first to suspect that something was going on with her.

"Yes, but I don't think it's something that can be said at the table," Obara replied. In truth, she couldn't care less about table manners, but she didn't know if it was right to say it before girls so young as Tyene and Sarella.

"Come on! You have never cared about good manners. Why don't you tell us?"

"Well, I don't know if all of you want to know it."

"Yes, we want!" Nym and Sarella (who was a very curious girl) answered together. Tyene kept silent, but her mischievous smile and the gleam of her eyes, lit up by a sudden interest, told Obara that she was intrigued too.

"All right then, but remember that you asked me to say it," she told them, just in case. "Today I've had my first moon blood."

The obvious question was immediately made: nor Nymeria nor Tyene nor Sarella knew what moon blood meant. Tyene and Sarella were too young, so it was hardly surprising that they didn't know it, but Nymeria was already nine namedays old. Obara remembered then that Nym hadn't seen her mother since she was five, and that though Oberyn was a good father, he had never taught his daughters about those women' issues. That knowledge, she thought, was the only advantage her mother had given her that her sister didn't have.

"The moon blood, girls, is something that happens to all grown up women every moon turn. I had it today, so it means that I'll be a woman soon. It will happen to you too, in a few years," she replied trying to give a not-too-descriptive answer.

"And what is it? What will happen to us when we are grownups?" evidently, evasions didn't work with curious Sarella.

"It's just some blood that comes out from your body without you getting hurt or sick. It doesn't hurt, so don't worry. I will be fine, and you will too," Obara said to settle her younger sister down and dissuade her from making further questions. Against all odds, she succeeded.

That afternoon, after the lessons and lunch, Tyene went to the pools to play while Sarella, who was still too young to swim, played with her dolls. But Nymeria, who usually played with Tyene and Arianne in the pools, this time went to the practice yard with Obara.

Nymeria had already had some fighting lessons with their father, but she hadn't practiced since he had left, so it was like starting from scratch. Obara told her to start with the spear, as she had done herself in her first class. It was still her favorite weapon, but now she was learning to use the whip, which she also liked very much. _Maybe I can be a warrior, in the future,_ she told herself as she blocked Nym's weak and clumsy strikes with her shield. The only warrior women she had heard of had been queens, but that didn't matter to her. Surely there had been more, and the reason why nobody knew them was that they didn't come from important families. Obara didn't want to be a queen or to be known all around the world. She just wanted to be strong, independent, and respected by the few people who knew her. She wasn't interested in marrying a noble man or having children. Maybe her destiny had nothing to do with her moon blood, then.

When they finished practicing, she also wondered about Nym's future. _Will she want to be a warrior too? Or will she prefer to marry an important dornish lord? Or maybe she'll want to go back to the Free Cities, with her mother._ Obara hoped she wouldn't, because she was very fond of her sister, and didn't think she would see her again if she left Westeros. She also thought about Tyene, and wondered if she would ever take a fighting lesson with them too. And Sarella, her cheerful and constantly curious little sister. She hoped that they would; that in the future the 4 Sand Snakes would fight together, in real battles and simple practices both.

The future was unknown, as it had always been for Obara since she decided to follow her father and go to Dorne. But now it depended on her, and that was all she could ask.


	8. Hurt and Comfort

**Tyene**

Life in the Water Gardens had carried on without changes during the war: the trees kept bearing fruit, the children went on playing in the pools, the lessons continued without exceptions, and if something had happened out there, Tyene hadn't noticed. She had seen her father off when he left to fight, and she had seen him return some days ago, when the war had finished, but her father's absence was the only thing that had changed for her during the conflict. However, as she splashed with her sisters, her cousin and their friends under her uncle's sad gaze, she couldn't help wondering if there was something she hadn't been told.

She hadn't asked her father if they had won: she had learned from his vacant and desolate eyes that they hadn't. Prince Oberyn had greeted all his daughters quickly and unenthusiastically upon returning to the Water Gardens and immediately after that he'd locked himself in his room, from where he hadn't yet come out. Tyene didn't understand why he was so sad. She knew they had lost, but that meant the war was over, that they were in peace and that he didn't have to go and fight again. Nobody of her family was dead, as far as Tyene knew: her sisters, uncle Doran, her cousin Arianne and her little cousin Quentyn were all safe and sound.

Her uncle seemed downcast too, and he spent most of the time sitting in silence, watching as Nym, Tyene and Arianne played in the Gardens with their friends, Garin and Sylva. At the beginning she thought her father and uncle had had an argument, and that their moodiness would go away soon, so she didn't worry too much about it. However, now three entire days had happened without her father ever leaving his room, and Tyene understood that something serious had happened. She decided to go and find out what it was.

"Where are you going, Tyene?" Arianne asked her when she went out of the pool without saying a word.

"I'm going to see my father," she answered as she put on the dress she had left just out of the pool. "I have to ask him something."

"All right. Will you come back after you talk to him?"

"I think so," Tyene didn't know how much time it would take her to persuade her father to talk to her, or how much time the conversation between them would take.

She walked quickly to her father's room and knocked the door. She waited for some seconds for Oberyn to answer, but as he didn't she knocked again, a bit louder. That, however, didn't work either, so she tried once more, knocking so loudly it was impossible for him not to hear, but he still didn't answer. _Is he still in here, or has he gone away?_ She wondered.

"Father!" She called him, in the loudest voice she could produce without shouting.

"Go away. I don't want to see anyone now," a raspy voice that sounded as if he hadn't said a word for a long time replied from inside.

"Father! Please!" Tyene insisted, despairing. _What has happened to my father?_ She wondered, worried.

"I have said I don't want to see anyone. What do you want?" The voice asked then. It didn't sound unfriendly, but it was expressionless, and that apparent lack of affection nearly hurt the girl, who had come to her father to comfort him.

But she reminded herself that it was her father the one who was suffering, even if she didn't know what was happening to him. Tyene wanted him to trust her, to tell her the reason for his grief and let her comfort him, but how was she going to accomplish that if he closed himself that way? She couldn't think of any way to do it, so frustration soon took over her and she felt her eyes go moist, partly because of her father's sadness, but also because of lack of attention she had gotten from him. However, the tears inspired Tyene, who quickly made a plan that would surely not fail her.

"I want my father!" She answered, and her voice broke when she said that. "I thought you loved me, but it seems you don't. It seems that during the war you have forgotten me, because you haven't talked to me since you came back," she sobbed, and then she sat on the floor, leaning against the wall.

Some seconds after that the door opened and Tyene knew her father was by her side. She didn't look up, though, but she turned her back on him instead, hiding her face from him.

"Tyene?" Her father called her, but she decided to ignore him, as he had just done with her. "Tyene? Please, forgive me," he asked her, sitting on the floor, by her.

"Do you want me to forgive me for not loving me? Or for forgetting me?" Tyene said, still without looking up.

"I do love you, and I haven't forgotten you. I want you to forgive me for…" Seemingly, her father didn't know very well what he had done wrong, because he couldn't finish the sentence. "Please, Tyene… you know I didn't do it on purpose to make you angry…" Oberyn looked very sad and sorry, and it made Tyene forget her own anger, worrying again about her father.

"I'll forgive you… if you tell me what happened," Tyene promised, looking up and into his eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Her father asked, stunned.

"I'm talking about the reason why you are so sad. Why haven't you talked to me since you came back? I know we have lost the war, but it's over now, and we are alive. Why are you so troubled, then?"

"Don't you know it yet?" Her father seemed astonished, as if Tyene had just asked him what her own name was. "Hasn't anyone told you what happened to Elia?"

Tyene shook her head. She hadn't heard of her aunt Elia since the war started. As far as she knew, her aunt was living in King's Landing with her children Rhaenys and Aegon, while her husband Rhaegar had had to go to war.

"The Lannisters killed her," her father sighed. "She had nothing to do with the conflict. She had done no wrong, except being married to Rhaegar. But they didn't care. They killed her baby in front of her, and then they killed her too." At the beginning, her father's voice was that of a stricken and resigned man, but as he spoke it gained strength, and in the end Tyene could perceive an intense anger in both Oberyn's tone and expression.

"I'm so sorry," Tyene said, feeling guilty for getting angry at her father when something so terrible had happened.

"You have nothing to apologize for, child. You didn't kill Elia and her children. It's the Lannisters who should be sorry, and one day I'll make sure they do," he vowed, hugging her.

Tyene remained silent, because she didn't know what to say. She hadn't wholly understood what her father had said: the only thing she knew of the Lannisters was that they had a castle called Casterly Rock and that they ruled the Westerlands. As far as she'd been told, her father had gone to fight a man called 'The Usurper Robert Baratheon', and the Lannisters had never been mentioned as the Usurper's allies, so she didn't have the least idea of what they have to do with the war.

"Tyene, do you want to do something with me?" Her father suggested, after being silent for a while, hugged, sitting on the floor.

"Something like what?"

"I don't know," her father shrugged. "I can teach you how to fight, if you want, or we can go for a ride. Or I could tell you a story. Tell me anything you want to do and we'll do it," her father's eyes now sparkled with the emotion his daughter's visit had restored him.

"I would like you to teach me about poisons…" Tyene suggested shyly. Poisons had aroused her curiosity since she could remember, but her father had always forbidden his daughters to play with them. He usually let them do whatever they wanted, but in that he was firm, and that was why she had never asked him that, thinking that he would certainly say no. Even now that she dared do it she felt insecure. However, Oberyn didn't get angry with her or denied her wish, but he just smiled (for the first time since his return to the Water Gardens.)

"So you like poisons? I wonder who you've taken after!" He joked, making her giggle. "Well then. Come with me, I'll teach you a little about some poisons I have here. But you have to promise that you won't use them… without my leave," her father said confidentially.

"I promise," Tyene accepted solemnly.


	9. Ellaria Sand

**Nymeria**

The children ran around the pools, shrieking happily, and then they jumped into them, splashing as much water as they could. Nymeria had done that countless times with her friends since her arrival to the Water Gardens, but it didn't thrill her so much now as it had then. Now she was a bit older and, though she still liked the pools, she saw them as a good way to refresh herself in the hot days in which the Dornish sun burned intensely than as an entertainment. Instead of running, splashing and pushing the others, now she just swam and looked after her little sister.

Sarella was now four namedays old, age that according to their father was not enough for her to be allowed to play in the pools by herself. However, knowing that her sisters and her cousin played in the pools every afternoon had made the girl want to do it too. Sarella was a very curious little girl, and she was always trying to do whatever her older sisters did. She had insisted many times with the matter, and in the end Oberyn had agreed to let her go to the pools, but only while he was there to see her. It had been that way for some moon turns, until her father set off for Highgarden to compete in a tourney in honor of the heir of King Robert Baratheon, who had just turned one year old. Now that their father was away it was Nymeria who had to look after her little sister.

Nym didn't wholly understand why her father had decided to participate in that tourney in honor of the Usurper who had defeated the dornishmen in the war, especially after what they had done to her aunt Elia and her children, but she preferred not to ask anything about it. It was probably a way to show publicly that Dorne didn't want to start another war, and that it would accept to live in peace under the new king's authority, or something like that. Whatever it was, Nym didn't feel any need to overwhelm her father with questions that could annoy him or make him sad.

She was looking distractedly at her sisters and cousin play with Sylva, Drey and Garin, their best friends, when she saw them come. He walked briskly and had a small smile in his face. _He seems cheerful_ , thought Nym. She hadn't seen her father smile very often in that last year. By his side and holding his hand was an attractive woman with black, straight hair and dark eyes. For a moment, Nymeria was reminded of the time her father had come to interrupt her play and introduce her to her oldest sister. This lady that walked alongside Oberyn, however, seemed to be too old to be his daughter, so Nym immediately knew that she was her father's new paramour.

"Tyene, Sarella! Father is here!" She heralded him.

They rushed out of the water to greet him while Nym stood slowly and waited for her time to be hugged.

"Hello father. How did you do in the tourney?" She asked her father when he kissed her cheek.

"Very well, child. Nobody could unhorse me," he replied, smiling.

"Have you won the tourney? Congratulations!" Nymeria exclaimed.

"Actually, I didn't win: I was disqualified," their father clarified.

"What? Why did they disqualify you?" Tyene asked in disbelief.

"Lord Mace Tyrell got angry at me because I unhorsed his son Willas when I had to joust against him," Oberyn explained. "I must admit that I went too far with the boy: I didn't only throw him, but his horse also fell, over him. I offered my most sincere apologies to the Tyrells, but when the maester of Highgarden said Willas would probably have trouble walking for the rest of his life, Lord Mace decided to disqualify me."

"What a pity!" Tyene exclaimed. "If you hadn't been disqualified you would have won, surely."

"Thank you very much, Tyene," their father showed gratitude for his little daughter's flattering comment. "Dear daughters, I would like to introduce Ellaria Sand," Oberyn told, gesturing towards the woman who walked with him. "She will live here with us from now on. Would you like to welcome her to the Gardens?"

"Of course, father," Nym immediately agreed. "You are welcome to the Water Gardens, lady Ellaria. I am Nymeria Sand, and they are my sisters, Tyene and Sarella Sand," she introduced them, assuming the role of the eldest sister.

"Thank you, lady Nymeria. It is nice to meet you," replied Ellaria.

"Ellaria, are you also a Sand Snake?" Sarella asked, making her older sisters laugh.

"What?" Ellaria asked confused, provoking more laughs.

"She wants to know if you are also my daughter," Oberyn told his paramour. "And the answer is no, Sarella. If you want more sisters, you will have to wait some time."

"But her surname is Sand, like ours…" Sarella insisted.

"That is because Ellaria's parents, just like me with your mothers, aren't married. Ellaria is Lord Uller's daughter. She went to the tourney to see her father joust, and we met there, when we sat together to see the jousts. After talking for some days and getting to know each other, we decided that we liked each other very much and I asked her to come to the Water Gardens to live with us," Oberyn explained for all of his daughters. "She isn't my daughter: she is my paramour."

"Ah," Sarella showed her understanding of the explanation.

"Girls, do any of you know where Obara is? I would like to see her, and introduce her to Ellaria too," their father asked.

"I think she went out for a ride. She loves horseriding," Tyene put in.

"Well, I will ask for her in the stables, then. Good bye, my snakes! I'll see you at dinner!" Their father took his leave.

"Good bye, father!" The three of them said at the same time.

"Good bye, girls," Ellaria greeted them.

"Good bye, lady Ellaria," the girls replied along.

When her father and his paramour turned to go to the stables, Nym heard Ellaria say 'they are so cute!' and her father chuckle. She laughed too, because that woman was the first to consider her father's daughters 'cute'. Occasionally, Tyene and Nymeria had been mistaken for adorable girls by people who didn't know them, but it happened very seldom. Everybody knew Obara aspired to be a warrior, and both her looks and her behavior were as far from cute as Nymeria could imagine. Nym dressed and behaved like a lady, but she wasn't less of a fighter than her older sister. Tyene appeared to be adorable, but she knew a lot about poisons, and she had even intoxicated people several times. Sarella was still too young, but Nym suspected she wasn't going to be any less dangerous than her older sisters when she grew up.

 _When Ellaria knows us truly, will she still believe we are adorable? Or will she realize she has been wrong about us? Will she even stay here long enough to get to know us?_ Nymeria wondered as she got dressed. _Will Ellaria be the mother of my future brothers and sisters?_ She wondered too. _And if it is so, will she stay with us after having her children, or will she leave, as Sarella's mother?_

But Nym didn't reflect on that for a long time, for she knew that only time had the answer to her questions. The only thing she could do was trying to get to know Ellaria as best as she could, and getting along with her. And if with time came more siblings, Nymeria was willing to welcome them with the same enthusiasm with which she had welcomed Sarella.

At dinner that night they shared a table with their father and his paramour and Nym talked lively with Ellaria, asking her about her home, her favorite activities and her tastes. The woman also showed interest in Nymeria, and she made her many questions. In the end, the little girl decided that she liked Ellaria, and that she was happy she was going to live with them in the Gardens. Tyene and Sarella seemed to agree, because they also talked merrily with her. Obara remained serious and silent, but that was her natural reaction when she was with someone she didn't know. She would surely get used to her presence soon. Oberyn seemed especially happy, smiling and making remarks every once in a while, but leaving the conversation mostly in the girls' hands.

Before going to bed, that night Nymeria prayed (something she hardly ever did) for her father to be happy with Ellaria for a long time, and if they had a baby in the future, she prayed for that child to be allowed to grow up having his father and mother both.


	10. Mothers

**Tyene**

She was already in her nightgown and ready to spend the night playing with her sisters and cousin. They were also ready, each one sitting on a mattress next to each other, but without showing the least intention of sleeping right then. Arianne had suggested playing a pillow fight, and all of them were thrilled with the idea, each of them choosing the pillow they would use as a weapon and the rules the game was going to have. Many times, Tyene, Nymeria and Arianne spent more time choosing the rules of a game than actually playing it, but it didn't matter: making the game up was amusing too.

Tyene slept very often with her cousin, and they were best friends. This meant that they always allied in the games in the pools, they were together more often than not, they shared everything and told each other all the secrets they had and mischiefs they had done (which weren't many, because most of their mischiefs they did together.) Sometimes she also slept with Nym, her older sister and her best playmate after Arianne. But with Obara it was the first time, and it had been hard to persuade her. However, after insisting many times and complaining that they never played together, she had accomplished it.

She was busy apprizing the pillows on her bed to see which one had the size, weight and hardness that was more comfortable for her when someone knocked the door. Then she immediately left what she was doing and ran to open it, without pausing to wonder who might be. When she saw that it was her father, a smile appeared in her face.

"Father! Have you come to kiss us goodnight?"

"Yes, I have," he said, getting in. "Good night, girls," he greeted them all, and then he approached Nymeria. "Nym, I have a letter for you. Here you are." He gave it to her, kissed her forehead and said "Have sweet dreams, Lady Nym."

"Thank you, father. But I will not sleep. After reading mi mother's letter I will spend the night playing with the girls," she answered.

Tyene wondered if Nym would tell them what her letter said. They were very close and usually told each other everything, so she hoped she would. Sometimes Tyene told her sisters about her mother, and she didn't understand why they always tried to avoid the subject. But things were a bit easier for Tyene than for her sisters: her mother visited her every year, and Tyene had visited her once too.

Tyene's mother lived in a septry, and she worked looking after orphan children who lived there too. Tyene had lived in that septry as a baby, but she didn't remember it. Her mother had told her once that the other septas had wanted to turn her over to the silent sisters when she got pregnant, but her father had persuaded them to keep her by means of a generous donation. When she was two namedays old, the septa in charge had told her they would look for a family to adopt Tyene, as they did with the other kids whenever they could. She had then written to Oberyn, begging him to help her, and he traveled to the septry to adopt a two-year-old girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. That was how Oberyn had taken Tyene to Dorne, allowing her mother to keep in touch with her.

"All night? Isn't that a very long time?" Asked their father, seemingly awed and a bit worried to know they would not sleep at all for the whole night.

"Yes," said Tyene. "It's a long time, but we are going to stay awake all the same.

Then her father approached her, who was next to Nym, and knelt beside her.

"Then, my little snake, have a good night, without dreams. Neither a sweet one nor a bitter one," he told her, making her giggle and kissing her forehead.

"Don't you believe her," Obara butted in. "I think they will fall asleep in an hour."

Tyene wanted to argue, but she didn't: there was no need to ruin the night with a fight. Besides, the only way to show Obara that she was wrong was through facts, for she would never accept anything just because Tyene said it. So she decided to keep awake all night without arguing to prove Obara wrong.

"You may be right," their father told Obara as he stood up and walked to her, at Nymeria's left. "But, don't you think you will sleep too?"

"Of course: if they doze off, I have nothing to do if I stay awake, and so I will sleep too. But only after Arianne and my sisters are asleep," Obara claimed.

"Then to you, my Sand Snake, I wish a good night, with sweet dreams only if you want to sleep. Do you like that?" He knelt beside her.

"Yes, I do," she said, and he kissed her cheek.

Oberyn stood up, and Tyene thought he was going to exit the room because he had already kissed all his daughters. But instead he got near Arianne, who was sitting in a mattress next to Tyene. He knelt by her side, as he had before with her and her sisters, and told her: "Have a good night too, my princess."

Tyene smiled, happy because her cousin was shown some affection too. She loved Arianne as much as she did her sisters, and it was sad to her that she didn't have her parents around her, while all of them had their father living there to spoil them openly. Sometimes Tyene wondered if she never got sad or jealous for that.

"Have fun, girls. Talk as much as you want, play monsters and maidens or pay a pillow fight if you like. But whatever you do, remember this: there are more people living here, and many of them, including Sarella, will want to sleep. As long as you don't speak too loud and leave the other ones alone, you can do what you wish. Is it clear?" He warned them.

"Yes, father!" Tyene and her sisters replied in a low voice, while Arianne said 'yes, uncle Oberyn'.

"Very well. I will leave you alone, then." And he went out, closing the door behind him.

Then Nym opened her letter, and Tyene got closer to her, curious.

"Will you tell us what it says, Nym?" She asked.

"If you want," Nymeria shrugged.

"Yes, we want!" Tyene and Arianne coincided.

"Well then, here it goes," her sister said. She took a deep breath, cleared her throat and started reading. " _Dear daughter Nymeria: How are you? Do you still play in the pools of the Water Gardens with your sisters? Do you get along with them? I hope that you do, and that you like living in Dorne. However, I want you to know that though I prefer you to live in Westeros and find your place there, you can still come back home if you wish._ " Nym paused to breathe and to look at her sisters, who looked back at her attentively. She kept reading. " _Everything is the same here in Volantis, and the only news I can tell you is that your grandfather has found me a suitor, and he is determined to marry me off this year. My betrothed is called Nyessos, and he comes from an important family. My father told me that he is about his age and that I will be but his third wife, but considering my situation I can't expect anything better. He has already hired the seamstresses who will make my dress, and I am so excited I can hardly think of anything else. I wish you could see me at my wedding, Nym!_ " She paused again for some seconds before going on again. " _Well, child, I hope to hear from you soon. I love to receive your letters, even more so now that you are starting to make them longer and to tell me more about Dorne. Could you send your father my regards? I love you very much_." And then she finished reading.

"Your mother is getting married? That's great! What a pity you can't go and see her," Arianne exclaimed.

"Yes," Tyene agreed. "I wish she lived in Westeros. Then we could go all together to her wedding, and we could meet her."

"Actually, I don't know if I would like to go. I don't like the idea of my mother marrying anyone else than Father. I don't think it's wrong, but I don't want to see it," said Nym, a little sad. "What I would like is to see her every once in a while. I haven't seen her for five years, since I first came here. Sometimes I would like my mother to live near and visit me, like yours, Tyene."

"My mother doesn't live near," Tyene replied. "She lives in a septry at the Reach."

"But she visits you every year, for your nameday, and she stays many days with you every time she comes. I don't think I will ever see my mother again." Nym broke off when she said that. Her eyes were moist, and a tear started to run down her cheek.

"That's nonsense!" Obara, who had remained silent until that moment, suddenly lost her temper. "Your mother is in Volantis, safe, sound and happy. She's even getting married! If you wanted, you could go visit her right now! You'd only have to tell Father you miss her, and he'd arrange everything for you to travel to Volantis in less than a moon's turn."

"Why are you so angry, Obara?" Tyene asked shyly.

"I'm not angry. But you all have a mother who loves you and writes you letters and still you complain. My mother couldn't write, and at the beginning neither could I, so I knew nothing of her since Father took me with him. I knew at that time that I was making an important choice, but not that I'd lose my mother forever." Obara's voice rose gradually as she spoke. Then it broke, and Tyene thought she would start crying like Nym, but instead she took a deep breath and kept talking, a little calmer. "A moon's turn ago I told father that I missed my mother, and that I wanted to see her. He wrote to a friend of his from the Citadel to seek her out, and he gave him money to pay her a journey to Dorne by ship. But instead of sending us my mother, Father's friend gave the money back to him, with a letter that said my mother had been dead for years," she told them.

Tyene didn't know whether she should comfort Nym, who had barely stopped crying, or Obara, whom Tyene knew that was suffering greatly for her mother's death, even if her reaction made her seem more angry than distraught. But before she could make up her mind, Obara murmured 'Sleep well', lay down on her mattress, covered herself with the thin sheet she had brought from her room and closed her eyes. Nymeria did the same, and Arianne and Tyene had no choice but to imitate them, leaving the plan of the pillow-fight forgotten.


	11. Elia

**Sarella**

Tyene, Arianne and their friends ran around the pools, dived in them with energetic jumps and pushed each other down, laughing. Sarella also ran behind them, giggling, and tried to push Arianne, Tyene and Sylva to the pools, with the little difference that she never succeeded. They were older, bigger and stronger than her, and more than once they had told her she should find children of her own age to play with, but she ignored their advice. She didn't want to play with little children; she liked them, who were more amusing and interesting.

Sarella, however, was aware of the fact that she didn't belong in their group. Nobody seemed to notice her presence, nobody ran after her and nobody tried to push her. She guessed that it was because they thought her too small, weak and defenseless to play, and they didn't want to hurt her. But Sarella knew she could play seamlessly, and it wouldn't bother her at all if they pushed her down into the pool. She had tried to tell them, but no one had listened. And she knew no one would listen now either if she spoke, regardless of what she said.

She stopped splashing and looked down, a little sad. The cheerful shrieks of the other children and their laughter continued around her, and so did the quick steps when they ran and the splash when they jumped down. She could disappear right then, and everything would stay the same. _It's as if I was invisible_ , she thought. Sarella didn't want to be invisible; she wanted them to notice her and stop ignoring her for once. But to accomplish that she had to do something surprised them and forced them to look at her. _Maybe, if I can push someone to the pool, I will get their attention,_ she hoped. Resolute, she came out of the water and looked around, checking that nobody had seen her. After that, she waited silently for the right moment to make herself visible.

The expected moment came right after Garin pushed Tyene: he was standing by the edge of the pool, his back against Sarella, looking at his friend as she emerged and approached the edge to go out again. She took advantage her opportunity and went quickly and silently to him, who didn't notice her presence until it was too late: Garin hardly had time to turn before she sent him to the pool with a firm shove.

"Well done, Sarella!" Arianne and Tyene exclaimed.

"Hey! That's not fair! Sarella, you weren't playing!" Garin complained.

"Yes, I was!" Sarella replied a bit offended. "If you didn't notice it doesn't mean I wasn't!"

"That's right," Tyene agreed.

"Yes: Sarella is playing with us," Arianne accepted too.

Garin didn't want to admit the fact that she had been playing with them from the beginning, but he didn't object to her playing from that moment on. The game started over, with the sole difference that now they didn't ignore her anymore, and that Garin started to run especially after her.  
When they had been playing for a long time and Sarella was more breathless than ever, they were interrupted by Obara. The oldest of Oberyn's daughters was already fourteen namedays old, and Sarella didn't remember having ever seen her play in the pools, though her sisters and cousin claimed they had played with her when they were little. Sarella believed them, but her oldest sister was almost a woman grown now, and if she had come near the pools it wasn't because she wanted to play with them.

"Tyene and Sarella: Father calls you. He wants you to come to his room to meet our new sister," Obara announced. "Arianne, you may come too, if you wish."

"Was she already born?" Tyene was surprised. "That's great! I want to see her!" She said as she got out.

"Me too!" Sarella exclaimed. "What is her name?"

"Father named her Elia," Obara told her.

"I'll go with you, girls," Arianne announced.

The four young girls went together to Prince Oberyn's bedchamber and Obara opened the door without knocking. Nobody scolded her for that, though, as they were already used to her rude behavior. Inside the room, Sarella found Ellaria lying in her father's bed, covered waist down by a thin white sheet and with her upper body barely concealed under colorful flowery dress that seemed pretty loose. Her father was sitting on the bed, beside Ellaria, and Nymeria was there too, holding the newborn baby carefully.

"Girls, come here to meet your little sister," their father invited them, smiling.

Sarella ran to them, making Ellaria sit up quickly, startled, and open her mouth, possibly to complain. However, before she could say anything, Oberyn took Elia protectively in his arms and told Sarella: "Gently, please. You must be very careful around babies."

She obeyed and approached them slowly, sitting next to her father. The baby in his arms was smaller than many of her dolls, and not as pretty as most of them: Elia had no hair, her eyes, which were to her the most important and beautiful feature in a face, were closed, and her face was nothing so special either, but Sarella liked her more than the biggest and prettier doll she had ever seen. This one was a real baby, her little sister, and in time she would grow up and play with her.

Sarella was aware of the fact that everyone's eyes were looking at her, waiting for her to say something about the baby. Instead, she just came near Elia, kissed her forehead and whispered 'welcome, little sister'. Then the baby's eyes shot open, and Sarella could see they were the same dark as that of their father's. Prince Oberyn, who was beside her, hugged her and kissed her forehead, and Tyene drew near them too.

"She is so beautiful!" Tyene exclaimed.

"Thank you very much, Tyene," Ellaria replied.

"I meant Elia," the girl said, half-joking.

"Ah! And I thought I was pretty!" Ellaria said in the same tone, making them all laugh.

"You are pretty too, Ellaria," Tyene said sweetly. "I think Elia took after you, though she has my father's eyes."

"Thank you very much, lady Tyene."

Arianne came near the baby too, but there was now no room for her on the bed, so she stood in front of them.

"Congratulations, uncle Oberyn," she said. "Elia is a very pretty baby. And her name is also beautiful."

"I agree with you, Arianne," her father said, smiling. "Now that I think of it, I have never congratulated my brother Doran on having had a princess as pretty as you are, or on choosing such a beautiful name. I hope I'll remember to do it next week, when I see him."

Arianne smiled and Tyene giggled, seemingly amused at her father's comment. But Sarella, far from being amused, stared at her feet, trying not to burst into tears as if she was the newborn one instead of Elia. Her father had told her not long ago that Doran wished to move to the Water Gardens with his wife and his son Quentyn, and that he had asked him to go to Sunspear to see to the city's matters. Prince Oberyn would leave a fortnight after his brother's arrival at the Gardens. Ellaria, Obara, Nymeria and Elia were going with him, but Tyene and Sarella would stay there, with their uncle, aunt and cousins. Sarella didn't want her father to leave, but she had learned through experience that tantrums didn't work with him, so she had no other choice than to accept the decisions of the grownups.

After a quiet and silent moment, Elia started crying. Her father quickly handed her to Ellaria, who took her in her arms, trying to settle her down.

"What's the matter? Why is Elia crying?" Sarella asked.

"I don't know," Oberyn answered. "Maybe she is hungry."

"It's not that," Ellaria corrected him after examining the baby's clothes. "She has wet her diaper and wants to get changed."

Sarella and Tyene tried hard to keep from laughing, and Arianne seemed about to laugh too. But Nymeria, who was now eleven namedays old, kept a straight face and asked:

"Do you want us to leave you alone so that you can change her?"

"Yes. Thank you, Lady Nym," Ellaria said. "Oberyn, you may go with them too, if you want. But I hope I will be able to count on you to help me with the diapers next time."

"Of course, lady Ellaria. You can count on me for anything," he told his paramour. "Obara, Nym, would you like me to teach you how to fight with knives?" He asked his oldest daughters.

"I'd love it, father!" Nymeria said, enthused.

"Of course! Thank you, father," Obara accepted.

"Tyene, you may come too, if you wish," Oberyn invited her.

"Really? I will go with you, then!" Tyene said, thrilled.

"And me?" Sarella asked, not willing to be the only daughter of her father who didn't receive any training in the art of fighting.

"Someday you will come too, Sarella," her father promised her. "But for today it will be better for you to keep playing in the pools. Besides, you don't want to leave your cousin Arianne playing by herself, do you?"

"Uncle Oberyn, does it mean I am not invited to your fighting lesson?" Arianne asked disappointed.

"Yes, it does," admitted Oberyn. "I would like to be able to teach you, but I can't do it unless your parents allow me, and the last time I talked with your mother she seemed noticeably against the idea of you becoming a warrior, so for the moment you can't go to the practice yard with us. Have fun in the pools, girls," he greeted Arianne and Sarella.

At the beginning Sarella was in a bad mood for having been excluded, but she soon recovered and started playing merrily with her cousin and the other children. _Everything is just like it had been before Obara called us,_ Sarella thought, but then she corrected herself. It wasn't all the same, because there was one difference: Tyene wasn't there anymore. Everyone kept playing happily, without noticing her absence, just like Sarella had thought they would if she disappeared.

Then she learned that the game could go without any of its players, but that didn't make them invisible or less important: everyone was welcome in the pools, everyone loved each other and the more they were the merrier it was, but they could go on when one of them left. And one day, Tyene and Arianne would grow up and leave the pools, and it would be Sarella's turn to continue without them. Thinking about that the little girl played lively for the rest of the evening.


	12. The Runaway Princess

**Tyene**

The wind hit her in the face as she galloped through the desert and, if her hair wasn't upswept and covered by a headscarf, she knew it would be waving and moving in every direction like a fluttering banner. Tyene herself wasn't in any rush, because nobody was likely to run after her: she had set off with Garin from Sunspear, and she had told Doran and Oberyn both that they would go fishing to the Greenblood. Her father had seen her go west and, if he suspected anything, he hadn't shown it.

Tyene and Garin hadn't lied: they actually went to the Greenblood, and he took her to a little fishing ship they sailed until they reached Godsgrace. They had fished something on the way with some fishing nets, and they had lunched and dined fish during their entire journey, and when they disembarked they got a new horse for Tyene (the previous one they had had to leave before departing in the ship.) Garin had bidden her farewell after that, promising to tell all his acquaintances of the Greenblood that, in case they were asked, they should say she was still there, with him.

That part of the plan would certainly work, and even if it didn't, she was in no danger, for she was not disobeying any order or breaking any law. It was her cousin Arianne who would get in trouble, and it was for her that Tyene was galloping at full speed, trying to get to her as soon as possible. According to the plan they had made, Arianne should have left Sunspear a few hours after Tyene did, in the middle of the night. She would have set off with Drey, and they would have got to the Greenblood shortly after them. Then they should have started the same journey as them by ship, save that Arianne's ship would continue its route through the River Vaith to the castle of the same name. It was there that they would meet, and surely Arianne was already waiting for her.

After many hours riding on the banks of the Vaith she could see, far away, the castle she was looking for. Tyene smiled in triumph and kept galloping until she was close enough to see Arianne and Drey, both of them standing with 3 already saddled horses, ready to go. Then she slowed down gradually until she stopped in front of them.

"Hi, Arianne! Drey!" She greeted them as she dismounted. "How was your journey?"

"Hi, Tyene!" they replied at the same time.

"The trip was quick enough, thank the gods, but we shouldn't be too confident. I have left Sylva in my room to tell everybody that I am sick and to see to it that nobody gets in, but I don't know how much time she will be able to keep up the farce without them finding out that I'm not there," Arianne answered, in a somewhat agitated and nervous voice.

"Don't you worry, Arianne," Drey told her. "We are just a few hours away from the Hellholt. Once we get there, Lord Uller will probably let us spend the night in the castle. From there we can go to Skyreach and take then the Prince's Pass. We would be in the Reach in three days, then."

"That's true, but if I can get there, so can any knight in my father's service. I have asked my father's leave to do this and he refused me, so as soon as he finds out that I am not in Sunspear he will know what I intend to do, and he will send someone to take me back there. And if we want to get to Highgarden in 3 days, we had better resume now our journey," Arianne said, slightly annoyed. "Tyene, we have already brought a horse for you," she told her a little more kindly.

"Thank you, Arianne. I will take the one I brought to the stables to let it rest, then. I'll be back in a minute and we will continue the journey."

"We will be waiting here," Drey accepted, smiling.

Tyene turned around and walked to the stables, also with a smile. That secret scheme to take her cousin Arianne to the Reach so that she could marry Willas Tyrell excited and thrilled her more than she would ever admit. She felt as when she was a little girl and plotted with Arianne to make mischief, as that time they had poisoned the septa, making her feel sick in order to be free to play the whole day, or when they stole a full wineskin just for them when they were ten, and spent most of the following day abed with headaches. _But you are not a child anymore_ , she told herself. _You are sixteen namedays old, and what you are doing isn't a game: you are arranging Arianne's wedding_. However, no matter how many times she repeated that to herself, the joy would not leave her.

She was absorbed thinking about all that when she got to the stables with her horse. There were a only a few hours before noon, so she thought there should be at least one stableboy awake and ready to see to the exhausted animal, but she couldn't find any. She neared the stalls, in hopes that she may find someone there, but she was interrupted before she could get there.

"May I ask where you are going, young lady?" A voice she knew all too well asked from behind her.

Tyene froze and remained still in her place for some seconds, mortified. She had been caught, and her plot to marry her cousin to the heir of Highgarden had shattered in an instant, as if it had never been more than an illusion. She took a deep breath and turned to face her father.

"Good morning, father!" She greeted her with her innocent tone, though she knew there was no way to trick him anymore. "I think you know it already: I am looking for a stableboy to tend to this horse, which is very exhausted already. Have you seen any?"

"Tyene, I understand that you want to help your cousin, but this was a really stupid thing to do," Oberyn told her with a voice that didn't seem angry or disappointed, as she had expected, but almost amused. "Did you actually believe my brother would not notice if his daughter disappeared? Or that I would not realize that my own daughter is lying to me?" He fixed his eyes on hers, and she lowered her gaze. "If you truly want to help Arianne, tell her to trust her father. He knows what is best for her."

"If that is so, tell me, why would he want to betroth her to Walder Frey? That man has _grandchildren_ of our age, father!" Tyene's voice remained low and calm, despite her exasperation.

"Trust me, my brother knows what he's doing," was Prince Oberyn's frustrating answer. "You are yet too young, and you don't understand it, but one day you will know, and you will be glad that I arrived in time to stop you."

"I am sixteen namedays old, father. According to the Seven Kingdom's law, I am already a woman grown," she reminded him.

"That is true, my dear. But your attempting to do this shows that you still act as a child, and that there are some things you should not concern yourself with, yet," her father told her, evenly. "Come with me, Tyene. Let us find your cousin, to tell her the game is over."

She followed him, with her head down and in shame for what had just happened. Even though the thrill she had felt when she planned Arianne's escape had been the same that of her childhood's pranks, this plan had been serious: they had disobeyed Doran and her father to save Arianne from a horrible marriage, and her wishes and hopes of carrying out the plan had been real. And her father not only had appeared suddenly and unexpectedly to ruin everything, but he also behaved as if it was just a child's naughty behavior, and that was more than humiliating.

When they got where her cousin was waiting for her with Drey, there was no need for words: the two of them knew as soon as they saw Prince Oberyn that they had been discovered and that all their hopes were shattered. Defeated, each of them mounted a horse, Tyene sharing hers with her father, and they started the way back. And Tyene, realizing that her cousin would never be able to break free, prayed for her father to have been right when he said Doran knew what was best for her.


	13. Alleras

**Sarella**

When she woke up it was still early in the morning. However, her father would probably be awake already because he was usually an early riser. She wanted to have the opportunity to talk to him in private, and it was more likely for her to have it before her younger sisters got up to attract his attention. Thus she decided to wait for him to come back to his room, leaving the door of her own room open so that she could hear his footsteps when he came.

She put on some simple breeches and a tunic, instead of picking a gown as she usually did. If she was going to study in the Citadel, she would have to dress like a man all the time, so it would be better to get used to it before she went to Oldtown. She untangled her short hair with no need to look in the mirror. After that she made her bed quickly and picked a book she had recently started reading. The book was about a pirate's adventures in his trips to the Free Cities, and she found it pretty interesting, though surely in a 'normal' westerosi family it would be considered a more than inappropriate read for young ladies.

Sarella didn't know how much time went by before some footsteps coming from the stairs got her abruptly out of the Pentos of the past century to bring her back to the present. She left a quill marking the pages she had been reading and went quickly off her room.

"Good morning, father!" She greeted him when she saw him.

"Good morning, Sarella!" He greeted back, turning to look at her.

"Father, may I talk with you for some minutes?" Sarella asked anxiously, hoping that presenting her idea to her father formally and when he had time to discuss it without problems she would stand a better chance to be heard and taken seriously.

He nodded, though he seemed a little bewildered. _If he deems my request for a formal father-daughter conversation ridiculous, what will he say to what I'm going to ask him?_ She wondered, worried. Sarella took a deep breath to find some courage and gestured for her father to follow her to her room. Once they were there, she sat in an armchair and told him to sit in another one that was in front of it.

"What is this all about, daughter? Why all this formality? Is there something you want to tell me?" Her father asked her, amused, after taking his seat in front of her.

"It's not something I want to _tell_ you, but a _request_ I want to make you. I want you to allow me to do something," Sarella said, wondering if that was a good way to start.

"Well, what do you need my permission for, child?" Her father asked with a slight frown, probably trying unsuccessfully to find out on his own the reason for such an unusual conversation and where she wanted to get with it.

"I want you to let me go to the Citadel," she finally revealed, with her eyes fixed in her father's and trying to sound more confident than she felt.

"Is it only that?" He asked her and she nodded. "Well then you have my leave, Sarella. You can travel wherever you want. I have allowed you to have a ship of your own, and you have my permission to go wherever you wish with it."

"Actually, I don't want you to allow me to _go_ to the Citadel, but to study there, as you did when you were younger. I want to be a maester, father," she confessed, finally making her intentions clear and hoping that her father would take her seriously, as he nearly always did.

"You can't ask me that, child. You can't study in the Citadel," her father told her, without even considering it.

Sarella took a deep breath and looked away to remain calm. She couldn't lose her temper, because that would probably lead to her losing the argument too. She had to stay firm and resolved if she wanted to convince her father that she was serious, and that her idea of becoming a maester wasn't a childish fantasy. When she felt confident again, she looked up and intently to her father's eyes, decided not to budge.

"Why can't I do it?" She inquired. "You have never objected to my learning to fight or sail, and you always told me that the only thing that could prevent me from doing what I wanted would be my own skills and abilities, because you were not going to forbid me anything. Then, why do you deny me this? Is it because you don't think I am smart enough to become a maester?" Sarella demanded to know. She knew very well that her father didn't believe her to be stupid, but even so there must be a reason for Oberyn's refusal, and she had to discover it in order to find the way to convince him.

"It isn't that," he said with a sigh. "I am positive that there are dozens of acolytes in Oldtown who are not half as smart as you are. But Sarella… you are a woman!" He tried to explain her.

"So? You have always told me that it wouldn't matter. You told me all your daughters would be free to choose what we wanted to be, who we married, where we went and what to do with our lives once we were adults. Why would you want me to be a warrior instead of a maester?"

"It is not about what I want. I have no say as to who they accept in the Citadel and who they don't. You cannot be a maester, Sarella, simply because when you get there, nobody will accept you," said Prince Oberyn, exasperated.

"So that is your problem? If I could get them to accept me, would you let me go?" Sarella wanted to know.

"Of course I would, child. If it was possible, I would not try to prevent you from doing it for any reason," Prince Oberyn admitted.

"Then I already have your leave, because it _is_ possible. I just have to go to the Citadel without telling them that I'm a woman," she said smiling, proud of her scheme. Her father, however, stared at her in complete non-comprehension.

"And how do you mean to do that, Sarella? When they ask you who you are, what are you going to tell them?"

Sarella smiled triumphantly, because she had already won. She had thought about that and many other things before deciding to talk to her father. She had been planning her future years in Oldtown for months, since she discovered she liked books, especially those about magic, prophecies and poisons, much more than ships and weapons. Feeling genuinely self-confident, she proceeded to tell Oberyn about her plan.

"You are very smart, sweetling," he praised her when she finished explaining him everything. "I think you will do well in the Citadel. I hope I'll hear from you after you finish forging your chain."

"Don't worry about that, father. I promise I'll come back to Dorne as soon as I have my chain, and you will see me again then," she told him, confident.

She was going to forge a chain, but she didn't mean to use it. She would be Alleras only for the time she needed to learn what she wanted, and she would resume her identity afterwards. She would see her father again before the next spring. Nonetheless, he hugged her tightly against his chest and she hugged him back by way of an advance farewell.


	14. The Last Farewell

**Oberyn**

With his eyes lost in the deserted horizon, at a relaxed speed, he rode to the faraway city of King's Landing. His men and paramour followed closely behind him. It would probably take them weeks to reach their destination regardless of their speed, so he saw no point in hurrying. The wind, the only thing that didn't burn that morning, refreshed him and made his hair wave and dance behind him.

A few hours ago, before leaving Sunspear, he had bidden his farewells to all his daughters but two. He had hugged Obara a tightly and kissed warmly Nymeria's cheek. He had also parted from Tyene with a hug and a kiss, and she had wished him good luck in his mission with a whisper. Persuading Obella and Dorea to let him go had been harder, but in the end he could make them understand that he had pressing matters to see to in the capital, and that he would be back as soon as he could. Loreza, however, had not wanted to accept it, and she had burst into tears during their farewell, but he knew that the tantrum would soon go away and she was going to go on with her life with no trouble. The one he was most worried about was Elia, the daughter he hadn't been able to say goodbye to.

Oberyn had looked for his fifth daughter through the entire castle before he set off and he had asked after her everywhere, but curiously nobody seemed to have the least idea as to where she could be. In the end, when everyone was ready to go and he had no excuses left to remain in Sunspear for more time, he was forced to give up and leave, but not before asking his oldest daughters to send Elia his regards. Ellaria told him then that their daughter's going missing was probably a sign of rebellion and a way to show her displeasure, as the young girl had said many times that she didn't want her parents to leave. That wouldn't be odd coming from Elia who, like all of her sisters, had always been somewhat rebellious and didn't allow people to ignore her easily. Still, he regretted not having bidden his farewell to her. After all, they would probably not meet again before spring, when she was a grown woman.

As he rode north through the open field, because there was no road near Sunspear, a rider approached him, galloping. When he was by his side he slowed down, so they rode at the same pace. Oberyn turned his head to see who it was, and when he did a smile lit up his face.

"Elia! Have you come here to say goodbye?"Oberyn asked. He didn't actually believe that to be the reason why she was there, but he preferred to start that conversation as if he didn't know what she wanted, and as if he wasn't determined to frustrate her plans from the beginning.

"Actually, I came to do just the opposite," she replied, also smiling, a little proud of herself. "I have come because I don't want to say goodbye. Instead of parting from you, I decided to accompany you to King's Landing."

"Elia, you are not going to King's Landing," he told her firmly. "I want you to stay at home, with your sisters."

"But, why not?" She inquired. "I can ride as fast as any of your men. I won't delay you or cause you any trouble. Why won't you let me go with you?" His daughter insisted, losing her patience.

"I will not let you go to King's Landing, simply because it is a dangerous place. The people who live there are either my enemies or complete strangers, and the last thing I want is to bring you there with me so that they can use you to get to me," Oberyn looked in her eyes and she didn't look away, though now she didn't seem so self-confident and defiant, but rather defeated and sad.

"But, if that place you are going to is so dangerous, why are you going there? Why don't you stay here too, safe at home, with us, in Sunspear?" Elia wanted to know.

"The thing is, Elia, that they have offered me a place in the king's small council. I must go to the capital because if I don't, they will think Doran intends to rebel against the Iron Throne, and that could lead us to a war we don't wish to fight," _and besides, I may finally get the chance to avenge Elia that I've been waiting for many years_ , he thought, but he didn't tell her that.

"Isn't there any other way to solve this, without you having to leave?" Elia asked. He shook his head. "When will you come back?"

"As soon as I can, child. I promise."

"Well, then," she sighed, resigned. "I will be waiting for you here."

 **Elia**

She smiled, happily, as the mare she had taken from the stables galloped swiftly. Not only because she loved riding at high speeds, but also because she was going to the capital with her parents. Prince Oberyn hadn't given her his permission when she had asked him, but this time it would be different. They were no longer in Sunspear, where her father couldn't let Elia come without giving his other daughters the same right to go. Besides, her appearing on her own in the middle of the desert would surely be proof enough of the seriousness of her intentions and of her abilities to take care of herself, which would be a rebuttal to any excuse her father might give to send her back to Sunspear.

When she saw the great group of riders in the horizon she decided to speed up. Now she just needed to find him before someone else took notice of her. She hoped she wouldn't have to interrupt any important conversation, because that would certainly annoy him and it wouldn't make him willing to accept her company for the rest of the journey. Elia looked down in order to hide her face as she rode among the riders, looking for her father. If she were to be seen by her mother before she spoke to him, she had no hope to succeed. She would possibly get angry at her for being dressed in man's cloths, reeking of horse for hiding in the stables for an hour before setting off and for disobeying her father's clear order of staying in Dorne. If her mother found her, Elia was sure she would have to go back to Sunspear in that very moment.

She finally found her father ahead of the other riders guiding them all to the capital. It wasn't hard for her to get next to him, because he wasn't going fast. He wasn't busy with any conversation, so he didn't take long to notice her presence and look her way. Elia smiled, excited and a bit nervous.

"Elia! Have you come here to say goodbye?" Her father greeted her, smiling too.

"Actually, I came to do just the opposite," Elia thought that the best she could do was to reveal her plan straight away and sounding as confident as she could, to convince Prince Oberyn that it was something serious, and not just a whim. "I have come because I don't want to say goodbye. Instead of parting from you, I decided to accompany you to King's Landing."

"Elia, you are not going to King's Landing," he replied, and his smile vanished quickly from his face. "I want you to stay at home, with your sisters."

"But, why not?" She wanted to know. "I can ride as fast as any of your men. I won't delay you or cause you any trouble. Why won't you let me go with you?"

Her father slowed down, so she had to imitate him and draw rein until she reached a running walk to stay by his side. Then they could look into each other's face, and she saw hi slips were pursed, his forehead frowned, and his dark and viper eyes were wide open. Not only was his expression much more serious and firm than usual, but she could also perceive a glimpse of concern and fear beneath that. This baffled her a little, because she had never seen her father scared of anything, and she couldn't imagine what could be so terrible to frighten him.

"I will not let you go to King's Landing, simply because it is a dangerous place. The people who live there are either my enemies or complete strangers, and the last thing I want is to bring you there with me so that they can use you to get to me," he told her in a low but deep voice. The two of them continued riding in a walk, side by side, but none of them looked away, and Elia felt as if they weren't moving at all.

"But, if that place you are going to is so dangerous, why are you going there? Why don't you stay here too, safe at home, with us, in Sunspear?" Elia inquired, suddenly worried about her parents.

Her father sighed and stopped his horse and Ella stopped next to him, so close they could have shaken hands, each from their saddle. "The thing is, Elia, that they have offered me a place in the king's small council. I must go to the capital because if I don't, they will think Doran intends to rebel against the Iron Throne, and that could lead us to a war we don't wish to fight," her father explained her patiently and quietly, almost in a whisper.

"Isn't there any other way to solve this, without you having to leave?" Elia asked, but she had already resigned herself to let him go. Nobody could prevent her father from doing as he wished, not even his own daughters. Besides, according to him, he wasn't even doing it because he wanted to, but because it was 'his duty'. He shook his head and she asked him, sad and downcast, "When will you come back?"

"As soon as I can, child. I promise."

That wasn't the answer she wanted. Her father didn't give her a day, a moon's turn, a year or a season by which he would come back to his daughters. He just said 'as soon as I can', which didn't mean anything. It could be anytime. But Elia knew that it was all he could promise: he didn't know how much time he would stay in the king's small council and when he would be allowed to go back to Dorne with his family. She didn't want her father to lie to her, so she accepted his vague promise, hoping that his return wouldn't take more than a season.

"Well, then. I will be waiting for you here."

As they were mounted on their horses, there were no kisses or hugs. The farewell consisted barely of a wave of their hands and an 'I love you so much'. After a last look with their eyes moist and a last exchanged smile, she turned to start back to Sunspear. Elia thought then, as she retraced slowly and with sorrow the way she had gone through to get to her father, that she was probably not going to see him again for many years. Some moon's turns after that, a letter from her mother from King's Landing proved her wrong.


End file.
